Frank, Mary Margaret, 1912-

The roots of the French family have been traced as far back as the 1200s. The man believed to have started the French family was Samuel French the Joiner who was born in Dorset, England, on May 15, 1687. He immigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1688 of 1689, and settled in what is now Stratford, Connecticut. Mary Margaret French Frank was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota in 1912 to Harley and Mabel (Townsley) French. She was a 1930 graduate of Grand Forks Central High School. During that time she was involved in Glee Club, was the programming chair of the Student Club, Assistant Editor of the school newspaper the Centrilian, and was also a member of the Volleyball and Soccer teams. Mary Margaret French graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1934 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the College of Liberal Arts. She was a member of the women's social sorority Kappa Alpha Theta, and the honors society Phi Beta Kappa. She taught in North Dakota and Iowa from 1934 to 1941. She also received a Master of Art degree in English Literature from Wellesley College in 1937. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1943 to continue teaching, before returning to Grand Forks in 1945 to teach piano. In 1955, she earned a Masters Degree in Library Science from the University of Illinois and was named the head of the Grand Forks Public Library. She was married to Richard Frank in 1957 and lived with him in Grand Forks until his death on March 1, 1995.