Fran Weiss

Fran A. Weiss, wife of Stephen Weiss and mother to Kimberly Weiss Shrank and Samantha Weiss Critchell, died on Monday, Jan. 22. She was 71. Fran had recently had heart surgery at Dartmouth Hancock Hospital in New Hampshire, and was poised to return home to Wilmington, VT, when she suffered cardiac arrest. Fran had been a full-time resident of Wilmington for four years, living on Wilmington Heights Road, and called the Mount Snow Region her "happy place." She met her husband of 49 years on a college ski trip to Mount Snow, and they married five months later. Fran was born on May 8, 1946, and raised in New York City, adopted at birth by Vincent James and Cynthia LaRosa. She attended New York University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in English, and later worked in the admissions office at the university. She lived in Manhattan until her daughters were school-age, and then moved to Westport, CT, and then Waccabuc, NY, at different periods maintaining a second home in Wilmington. Fran worked as an apparel designer, in Steve's family business Matson Shirts, then for various maternity-wear companies, and then reunited in a new family business with her husband, daughter Kim and son-in-law Seth, Samantha's husband. Fran's interests included politics, reading, dogs and travel. She was a reluctant skier for many years as a way to spend time with her family. In addition to her husband, daughters and Seth, Fran is survived by Kim's husband Jonathan Shrank; four grandchildren, Isabella, Ava, Max and Jake; and her beloved rescue dog Abby. Memorial donations can be made to: the ASPCA. Family services are private., wife of Stephen Weiss and mother to Kimberly Weiss Shrank and Samantha Weiss Critchell, died on Monday, Jan. 22. She was 71. Fran had recently had heart surgery at Dartmouth Hancock Hospital in New Hampshire, and was poised to return home to Wilmington, VT, when she suffered cardiac arrest. Fran had been a full-time resident of Wilmington for four years, living on Wilmington Heights Road, and called the Mount Snow Region her "happy place." She met her husband of 49 years on a college ski trip to Mount Snow, and they married five months later. Fran was born on May 8, 1946, and raised in New York City, adopted at birth by Vincent James and Cynthia LaRosa. She attended New York University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in English, and later worked in the admissions office at the university. She lived in Manhattan until her daughters were school-age, and then moved to Westport, CT, and then Waccabuc, NY, at different periods maintaining a second home in Wilmington. Fran worked as an apparel designer, in Steve's family business Matson Shirts, then for various maternity-wear companies, and then reunited in a new family business with her husband, daughter Kim and son-in-law Seth, Samantha's husband. Fran's interests included politics, reading, dogs and travel. She was a reluctant skier for many years as a way to spend time with her family. In addition to her husband, daughters and Seth, Fran is survived by Kim's husband Jonathan Shrank; four grandchildren, Isabella, Ava, Max and Jake; and her beloved rescue dog Abby. Memorial donations can be made to: the ASPCA. Family services are private. Family services are private.