Frances Scalpone

Services and Interment for Frances Scalpone (nee Rossi), 94, of Palatine, will be held privately.

After several days in the hospital, mom peacefully passed away on February 14th.

She and dad moved to Palatine in 1946. They were born in Chicago, and after they married in 1946, they had the chance to move out to the country, and they chose the little town of Palatine. They loved, what was then, the small-town life, so they never left.

Mom spent most of her adult life working in Palatine’s District 15 school district. She worked in the school library at Lincoln School for many years. She retired in her late 60’s, but she missed it so much that she went back and worked a couple days a week to help out and to enjoy the friendships she had made. She continued that until she was 80 years old. The days before she died, she spoke of how much she loved that job.

After dad died, she moved to The Grand in Palatine, and one of the first things she noticed when she arrived was that they had a library for the residents to use. She noticed that the books were just randomly placed on the many shelves, and the library person inside of her knew she could organize the books in a way that would make it easier to find a book to enjoy. She made it her mission to do that, and she took great pride in the results.

Mom and Dad also loved to travel (Mom more than Dad). They spent their retirement years traveling all around Europe and the United States. They always came home with new friends and many memories.  She would enjoy talking to friends and family after they traveled, and she liked comparing and remembering memories about those trips. The memories from those trips brought her great comfort when the time came that she could no longer travel.

As I said, she passed away peacefully on February 14th. I hope mom and dad had a beautiful Valentine’s Day together.

Frances is survived by her children, Candi (Gregg) Fenske, Jerry (Genette) Scalpone Jr. and Mark (Sachiko) Scalpone; grandchildren, Jerry, Dave, Valerie, Nickolas, Jeremy and Meredith; great grandchildren, Jacob, Sam, Ryan, Craig, Morgan, Kristen, Olivia, Hannah, Grady, Aidan, Lillian and Talulla.

She is preceded in death by her husband, of 72 years, Gerald Scalpone Sr.