Frances Watson Richards

Fran (née Gates) Watson Richards passed away on Good Friday, April 10, 2020. Fran was born May 26, 1932 in New York City, along with a twin sister, Barbara (Gates) Bensching. Parents Hal and Laura Gates eventually moved to Upper State New York where sister Mary (Gates) Wezeman was born. Highlights of their early years were summers at their “camp” in the Adirondack Mountains. Further moves took them to Cincinnati, Asbury Park, NJ, and Chicago where brother Tom Gates was born.

Fran Richards graduated from the Central Academy of Commercial Art, Cincinnati, Ohio, known at the time for the remarkable commercial art successes of its students. At the same time, she audited evening classes at the University of Cincinnati.

She interviewed in Cleveland and Indianapolis for positions in fashion art (when department stores used art rather than photographs) and settled on Indianapolis where she was hired by L.S. Ayres & Company as a fashion artist. At the Second Presbyterian Church she met David Russell Watson. They married and had five children, including twins.

Happy in her role as a stay-at-home mom for over 20 years, all that changed when a divorce necessitated her going back to work. At Butler University in a job she loved, she received an unexpected call from the Hyatt Corporation in Chicago to interview for a position at the new Hyatt Regency Hotel under construction at the time in Indianapolis. Shortly after, she was Director of Public Relations for this impressive addition to the city’s skyline. Three years later she was contacted by the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association to take the same position there. After almost four years, she was asked to head up the public relations for the newly renovated Canterbury Hotel, Hilton Hotel, and Hilton Airport Hotel, all under the management then of the F.C. Tucker Company.

She was a member of the Public Relations Society of America and won two regional awards and one national award. She was also a member of the Auxiliary to the Children’s Bureau.

During the years at ICVA she met and married David Russell Richards. He predeceased her. At the time of their marriage he was with Eli Lilly and Company but soon after became vice president for corporate affairs at Methodist Hospital.

In 1990 a new direction was offered to Fran by the American Heart Association as vice president of communications for the AHA Indiana Affiliate from which she retired ten years later.

Upon retirement, she did freelance writing for the Riley Children’s Foundation and wrote book reviews for The Indianapolis Star.

For 24 years Fran and David lived in a beloved old Civil War-era home in Zionsville, made more beautiful for them by the visits of all the children and grandchildren, and by the gardens they created.

Fran is survived by her children, Mark Watson, Carol Cheesman (Bill), Kathryn Watson (Jeff Martin), Doug Watson (Linda), and David Russell Watson. Also surviving: beloved stepchildren, Maryse Richards (Brandon Taylor) of Chicago, and Michael Richards (Rita Brogan) of Seattle; ten grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

A private burial service will be held. A Celebration of Life will be held at a time in the future when we can all gather again.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. Francis-in-the Field Episcopal Church, 1525 Mulberry, Zionsville IN 46077.

Arrangements are in the care of Flanner Buchanan -Zionsville.

Memorial gifts to St. Francis In-The-Fields Episcopal Church may be made honoring Fran at www.stfranciszionsville.org