Frances Bell Holtslander died Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020, just two days before her 85th birthday, at the home of her daughter and son-in-law in Brookhaven.

She is survived by her siblings, Dorothy Bell Wells, John Elwood Bell and Mary Frances Bell; son, E. Keith Holtslander and wife Heather; daughter Leah Ann H. Peavey and husband Tucker; grandchildren, Lauren P. Landry, Nicholas Peavey, Ashley Holtslander, Emily Newell, and Kyra Holtslander, great-grandchildren, Tucker, Tarver, and Taylor Kayt Landry and Keagen Newell; and a host of nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Emmette Elwood and Gertrude Davis Bell; sister, Jewell Bell Rook; husband Edgar Holtslander; daughter, Amy H. Freeman; and great-grandson Holt Davis Landry.

Frances was born in Vicksburg on Jan. 21, 1935, where she grew up enjoying rural life on Porter’s Chapel Road as well as basketball and cheerleading at Jett High School.

Her professional career began at Blackburn Motors, where she met her husband from New York, Ed, while he was playing semi-pro baseball for the Air Force.

They lived most of their adult lives in Natchez, where Fran worked as a teacher assistant and then a bookkeeper for Taylor-Ball Orthopedic Clinic.

She used her math and organizational skills in service to her Lord as a longtime bookkeeper, etc. for Lovely Lane United Methodist Church. Fran was the Weight Watchers “guru” in Natchez for numerous years, leading weekly meetings and encouraging others in the community. All the while, she was a loving daughter, sibling, wife, mother, grandmother, and aunt to her family.

Arrangements will be managed by Glenwood Funeral Home, Vicksburg.

Visitation will be at Porter’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Vicksburg at 11 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 24, with a graveside service to follow in the church cemetery. Memorial donations can be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.