Mary Frances (Mary Fran) Thompson Gottschall

“It is with great sadness to report that Mary Frances Thompson Gottschall of Point Clear, Alabama passed away on May 29th at the age of 99 years.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Charles Hubert Thompson and Anne Hilton Thompson, her husband of 60 years, Alvin Gosman Gottschall, as well as her sister, Dorothy Ann Thompson Webb, and brother, Charles Hubert Thompson Jr.

Mary Fran was born December 21, 1925, in Laurel, MS and grew up the daughter of a small-town businessman, city elder and Jones County sheriff who, it was once said, “half the town owed him money and the other half owed him a favor”. She graduated from Laurel High School in 1943 and after attending Belhaven College for Women, at the time a finishing school for southern young ladies, she graduated from Ole Miss in 1947. Family, strong spirits and her Mississippi roots defined her life. After a stint as a teacher in Indianola, MS, Mary Fran met on a blind double date, Alvin Gottschall, a WWII hero from New Orleans even though they were both set up with the other date. As for Al, he had nabbed himself a southern belle, marrying in 1950. To see Scarlett O’Hara, the protagonist in the movie, Gone with the Wind, if she had ever reached a ripe old age, one would only have to meet Mary Fran Gottschall. Mary Fran was primarily a homemaker, hostess and church & hospital volunteer who supported her children’s sports & activities as well as Al’s career in the oil & chemical business that sent their family to New Orleans, Cleveland, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis. Few who met her would deny that she had a fire in her belly and a steel resolve - once even protecting her son from being attacked by the mother of another boy her son had just beaten in the finals of a tennis tournament. At home her southern cooking was famous with friends and family often being treated to her signature gumbo & corn bread, hoppin John, shrimp boils, fried chicken, and lemon meringue pie.

When Al retired in 1988 and after 35 years in the “north”, Mary Fran & Al finally got back to their Deep South roots by moving to Point Clear, AL, a small town on Mobile Bay and across the street from an old resort hotel where Mary Fran had vacationed with her family as a little girl. There, her southern drawl fully returned. Their golden years were filled with visits from their children & families, bridge parties, golf, travel and visits from their “northern” friends.

Surviving Mary Fran are daughter, Anne Hilton Purvis of Accord, NY, son, John Austin Gottschall (Brittany) of Kenilworth, IL, grandchildren, Liam Purvis, Bosch Purvis, Caroline Gottschall, Helen Gottschall, Susie Gottschall and great grandson, Cedar Purvis, as well as niece, Sally Webb Boteler of Columbus, OH and nephew, Tom Webb of Collierville, TN.

Her family would like to thank the staff at Westminster Village of Spanish Fort, AL where Mary Fran spent her final years. She will be interred next to her husband at Lake Park Cemetery of Laurel, MS where a private memorial service will occur at a later date.”

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