Frances Banks, who was 101 years old, grew up in Cape Elizabeth and was a descendant of the early settlers.
Frances Banks, a World War II Army nurse who became a respected nursing director, had a remarkable life that began and ended with a pandemic.
Banks was born during the Spanish flu in 1918. And she died of COVID-19 on March 30 at Maine Medical Center in Portland. She was 101.
Banks was a longtime Cape Elizabeth resident and a direct descendant of the town’s original 17th century settlers.
She was born July 15,1918, a daughter of Raymond and Vesta Jordan.
Banks was remembered this week as a strong, independent and resilient woman, and a matriarch of the Jordan family.
“We all looked up to her,” said her nephew, Kevin Jordan of Cape Elizabeth. “She was a woman, a person that just had an aurora of royalty about her. You could tell there was something special and important about her. Everyone kind of revered and idolized her for that.”
Banks grew up in Cape Elizabeth, the oldest of seven children. Her nephew shared stories of Banks childhood, noting his grandmother may have had the Spanish flu when his aunt was born. More than 4,500 Mainers died during that pandemic, which lasted into 1919.
“She didn’t live with her parents for a while after her birth,” her nephew said. “Vesta had some illness that prevented her from taking care of Frances.”
She grew up on the Jordan family farm and attended Cape Elizabeth schools.
“She had a very fond memory as a small girl riding with her grandfather around the farm,” her nephew said. “Apparently, they would go out frequently and just inspect the property and see how things were growing. She talked about catching some women red handed stealing apples from the apple trees. They tucked them into their shirts and claimed they didn’t. My great-grandfather accused them of stealing apples, and they denied it even though they could clearly see their shirts were stuffed with apples. She used to tell that story with a chuckle.
