Frances M. Ward, 82, office manager of John B. Ward & Co. and friend to many

Frances Marie Ward, 82, of Bryn Mawr, office manager of a family-owned tree care business and a friend to many, died Thursday, Jan. 23, of Hodgkin lymphoma at her home.

Mrs. Ward was a longtime resident of Villanova until moving in 2004 into the family’s former house in Bryn Mawr. Wherever she went, she created a community of friends around her, said her son, Matt.

“She was able to bring out people who were shy,” her son said. “She was able to connect with everybody on a cool level. Simple acts of kindness just flowed from her.” After the family cultivated a rose garden at the Bryn Mawr house, Mrs. Ward made it a point to give her ill neighbor the first yellow rose of summer, he said.

Mrs. Ward, known as “Fran,” was diagnosed in the fall of 2018 with Hodgkin disease, a type of cancer. Initially, doctors were able to keep the illness at bay, but when the treatments stopped working, she ended them.

Starting in 1976, Mrs. Ward worked for 27 years as the office manager of John B. Ward & Co. Arborists. She oversaw the business, formerly in Bryn Mawr, while her husband, John, bid the jobs and supervised the work crew of four to five.

The firm grew as the couple’s three sons entered the business, starting in 1987. It is now based in King of Prussia and has 50 employees.

“Fran expertly handled all the administration of the business, built an early database of clients, and implemented the computer systems still in use,” the family said in a statement.

Born and raised in Sharon Hill, she was the daughter of James Patrick and Sarah Frances Shadell Mynaugh.

Mrs. Ward was the youngest of six children. She won academic scholarships to Holy Child Academy in Sharon Hill and what now is Holy Family University in Philadelphia and earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics.

While studying at Holy Family College, she met John Ward. On one of their first dates, he took her home to meet his parents. On another, he asked her for help with the paperwork generated by his fledgling business. “No problem,” she said, according to Ward, whom she married in 1960.

They lived in Bryn Mawr, but with the arrival of five children, they needed a bigger house. She found one in Villanova, where the family moved in 1969. Two more children arrived.

The couple’s son Mark died in 1972. A daughter, Mary Jane “Missy,” died in 1980. While the children were ill, Mrs. Ward nursed both with “the perfect combination of gentleness, love, and strength,” the family said.

As an offshoot of her work with the Ward company, she joined the International Society of Arboriculture, Penn-Del Chapter. She helped her husband in the early stages of a program to certify arborists and raised funds for scholarships by holding dinner dances at Longwood Gardens. “She ran that entire scholarship program,” her husband said.

She was honored in 2013 when the society created the Fran Ward Women in Arboriculture Scholarship.

When not working of volunteering, she enjoyed bowling, tennis, gardening, and travel to Ireland.

At various times, she was a member of St. Thomas of Villanova Church, St. John Neumann Parish in Bryn Mawr, and Our Mother of Good Counsel in Bryn Mawr.

Besides her husband and son Matt, she is survived by children John, James, Andrew, and Christopher; 10 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. A grandson died earlier.

A viewing from 9 to 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, at Our Mother of Good Counsel, 31 Pennswood Rd., Bryn Mawr, will be followed by a 10:30 a.m. Funeral Mass. Interment is private.

Memorial donations may be made to Little Sisters of the Poor, 5300 Chester Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19143, or Divine Waters, Attn: Jim Mynaugh, 143 Oak Bend Trail, Lipan, Texas 76462. It provides funds for well water in Africa.