Amherst – Mary Frances Hough, 94, of Amherst, died on Tuesday, July 7 at the Center for Extended Care in Amherst, where she received excellent care.

She was born on October 7, 1920 in Santiago, Dominican Republic, to James Webb of Illinois and Maria Giralt of the Dominican Republic.  Her parents met when her father was serving in the U.S. Marine Corps in the Dominican Republic and her mother was teaching Spanish to the Marines.  She spent her youth growing up in Santiago and became a teacher there. These years were troubled by the brutal dictatorship of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, and in later years she shared many stories of the effects of the dictatorship on her family and friends. 

She married Curtis Hough of Lissie, Texas on April 24, 1948, who was working for Plantation Dauphin, a sisal plantation near Cap Haitien, Haiti, and there raised three children.  She home schooled her children and was a scout leader to many of the otherchildren.  In 1964 they moved to Killeen, Texas, where Curtis purchased an automobile dealership.  After Curtis died in 1987, she continued living in Killeen until 2003, when she moved to Amherst, Massachusetts, to be near her son Gary and his family.  While living in Killeen, she served as a volunteer at the Metroplex Hospital, of which she had many fond memories.  In Amherst, she lived in the Ann Whalen apartments and was a member of St. Brigid’s Catholic Church.  She was an amateur artist, musician and an ardent bridge player all her life, and a member of the bridge group at the Bangs Senior Center in Amherst.  She was a passionate reader, and after she could no longer read print, she joined an audio book club that came together at the Senior Center.

She is survived by her three children Gary Hough, Frances Hough, and Margaret Bonneville, her daughter in law Mary Pryor Hough and son in law Jeffrey Bonneville; four grandchildren, Jennifer Hough, Emily Mileham, Sadie Bonneville, and Tara Bonneville; and three great-grandchildren, Octavion, Zoe, and Marcelo Emerson.

Mary Frances will be remembered by her family as a creative woman of great intelligence and presence, a deep and playful sense of humor, a ready engagement with everyone who entered her life, a natural command of graciousness and charm, and for the courage and good spirits with which she faced her final years.

A funeral service will be held for her at St Brigid’s Catholic Church in Amherst on Friday, August 7, at 10 A.M.  Her ashes will be buried in Eagle Lake, Texas, beside her husband Curtis.

Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com

Service details, Social networking, Memorial Guestbook and Slideshow are available here.