22 Aug Frances Darger
Salt Lake City, UT – Frances Johnson Darger, age 99, passed away July 30, 2024 of natural causes in Salt Lake City.
Frances was born Nov. 30, 1924 in Salt Lake, the third of five daughters born to Edna Evans and Frank Arthur Johnson. She was named Frances Edna in honor of both parents.
She attended grade school and junior high at the Wm. M. Stewart School on the U of U campus and went on to high school at East High. Her college years were spent at the University of Utah where she became a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and was active in student affairs. She was a member of Spurs, Trotters, Cwean and Beta Delta Mu. She edited the humor magazine (the Unique) and was elected to Mortar Board. Frances and her four sisters, Afton, Peggy, Janice and Jewel, spent a year in Los Angeles during the war years 1944-45 trying to make their fame and fortune as a “swing quintet”. When this did not come to fruition the girls returned home and Frances graduated from the U of U in 1946. Prior to this she had begun playing violin in the fledgling Utah Symphony the summer of 1942. She played in the Symphony until 2012 with the exception of the year spent in California. Following college she became the Society Editor of the Salt Lake Telegram.
On May 28,1948 Frances married Robert Williams Darger and they became parents of three children, Peggy, Amy and Bill. She continued as a freelance writer doing columns on home decoration under the by-line of Georgia Holmes (gorgeous homes) and playing with the Utah Symphony (with the heartfelt cooperation of hubby Bob). She played for 69 years in the Utah Symphony including tours in the United States and overseas. Frances also stayed active in the community as a past member and officer of the Junior League of Salt Lake, a member of Classics Club, the Utah Symphony Guild, Kappa Kappa Alumnae (a bridge group and “Kappa Club”), a neighborhood Study Club, the Monday Sewing Club, her favorite musical group (Squeak and Squawk), Kulture Klub, and a monthly meeting with grade school friends, the Darling Girls! ln 1999 the University of Utah Emeritus Alumni Club awarded Frances the Merit of Honor Award.
Frances was preceded in death by her husband Robert, her parents and sisters. She is survived by her three children: Peggy (Richard) Sacher, Amy (George Stewart) Darger-Stewart and Bill Darger; 12 grandchildren: Rachel (Joe) Mariucci, Becky Woods, Jewel Darger-Sacher, Charles (Jessie) Stewart, Evan (Lucy) Stewart, JeanMarie Stewart, Michael (Alyssa) Stewart, and Bill’s children: Hailey, Ben, Ivy, Gabe and Will; 15 great-grandchildren: Kate, Jack, Kayleigh, Ethan, Logan, Rhiannon, Eliza, Matthew, Aiden, Tate, Oliver, Frances, Ila, Henry, and Elizabeth, as well as many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews and AFS Exchange daughter Maya (Tom) Meis. Thank you to Jim Thornton and the staff at The Ridge Foothill and Canyon Hospice.
Friends may call Friday, August 30, 6-8pm and Saturday, August 31, 9-9:50am. Funeral, 10am. All at Hilltop Ward, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 589 East 18th Ave, Salt Lake City. Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89283472197
ln lieu of flowers, donations to the Utah Symphony would be appreciated: usuo.org/donate or 801-869-9200 (Development Office). And please take your mother out to lunch.
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