CHESTER, Vt. – Frances Webb, 89, passed away peacefully at home on Sept. 30, 2024. She was born Frances Ahmann on April 9, 1935, on a small farm in Hartsburg, Mo., with three siblings. Sadly, both parents, Raymond and Martha Ahmann, were lost to cancer when Frances was just 13.
She graduated from a local junior college and moved to St. Louis, where she worked for Braniff Airlines. She transferred to their NYC base and enjoyed the late-1950s folk scene in Greenwich Village, and traveling. She switched to TWA, where she soon met and married Robert Webb. They had two sons and moved to Brookfield, Conn., where they enjoyed the beauty of Candlewood Lake, swimming, and waterskiing. The family would often travel to southern Vermont on winter weekends to ski, and so after a divorce, Frances took her two sons and moved to Chester, Vt.
Frances worked for several years at the well-known Chester Inn, playing tennis and skiing with the boys. She eventually started her own successful business, Cuddly Critters, on Main Street in Ludlow, and ran it for 20 years. Along the way she developed an interest in hand drumming, and astronomy through the Chester-based SoVerA group.
After retirement, she became more involved with the Fletcher Farm Community Garden in Ludlow, and tended two plots there for many years. A music lover, she liked attending the summer music concert series in Chester and surrounding towns, and occasionally well-known names like B.B. King, Tina Turner, and most recently, Marty Stuart.
She is survived by her two sons Mark of Chester, and Matt and his wife Mary Ann of Danby, their two sons Brennan and Christian, her sister Joyce Allan of Hartsburg, Mo., and many nieces and nephews.
Per her wishes, there will be no services.