Fernande “Fern” Degeorge

Memorial Mass for Fernande M.  "Fern" DeGeorge, 79, Lawrence, will be at 10:00 a.m.,  Monday, September 19, at St. Lawrence Catholic Center in Lawrence.

Fern DeGeorge died Thursday, September 15,  2011 at her home in Lawrence.

She was born December 17, 1931, in Rumford, Maine, the daughter of Albert and Bertha Melanson.  She attended Stevens High School in Rumford, and received her B.A. from Regis College (Weston, Mass,). She was a Fulbright Fellow to Grenoble, France, and then received her M.A. from Yale University. She conducted an experimental program in teaching French in elementary schools, grades 1 through 6, in Montgomery County, Md., 1956-57.  She received her M. Phil in 1970 and her Ph.D in 1972 in French literature from KU.  She co-edited a best-selling book on structuralism and published several articles on French literature and literary criticism.  She worked for a short while in KU’s Study Abroad Office, and as a Research Assistant at KU..  She loved literature and was a courtesy Assistant Professor of Western Civilization.  Her love of art found expression in serving as a docent for the Spencer Museum of Art.

She was a long-time member of the St. Lawtrence, Catholic Center, of Friends-in-Council, and of the University Women’s Club.  She was a devoted wife and mother, an award-winning quilter, a world traveler, and an avid gardener.
In 1957 she married Richard De George in Arlington, Va.  They moved to Lawrence in 1959. He survives of the home.  Other survivors include three daughters, Catherine, Denver, Rebecca and her partner Guila Muir, Seattle, and Anne Marie and her husband Richard Mueller, Pittsburgh, and their three children, Grace, Hannah, and Nathaniel.

The family will greet friends from 4 – 7 p.m. with a vigil service at 6 p.m. Sunday the 18th at Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence.

The family suggests memorials to the St. Lawrence Catholic Center, or the KU Endowment Association, sent in care of the mortuary, 120 W. 13th Street, Lawrence, KS  66044.