Frances Ferry Dennison died peacefully on Tuesday, July 19, after saying goodbye to her five children. She was 95, and loved her pre-lunch swims off Middle Pier.

She spent 70 family summers on West Chop, surrounded by relatives.

She was born Dec. 3, 1920 to Mansfield and Jean Morris Ferry. In 1938, Frances graduated from the Chapin School in New York city, and began her college studies at Vassar. In 1941 she married Ethan Allen Dennison Jr. and continued her college studies at Barnard College and Columbia University. Prior to starting their family, she traveled as a wife of a decorated naval officer during World War II. After the war the couple settled in Riverdale, N.Y., where they were active members of Christ Church for the duration of their lives.

In 1966, Frances earned her Bachelor of Arts degree and a professional degree in occupational therapy from New York University. She worked at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York and later at the Riverdale Center for Mental Health. In 2010 she became a resident of Providence, R.I., where she made new friends who were very important to her, and where she was close to her children and her brother, John Mansfield Ferry, and his family.

She was married for 66 years to her beloved husband, E. Allen Dennison, until his death in 2007. She was the mother of five fabulous (she insisted they say that) children: Lee Mansfield Dennison Roussel, Diana Mansfield Dennison Smith, Elizabeth Jean Dennison, Allen Mansfield Dennison, and Andrew Oliver Dennison. She was the grandmother of 11, great-grandmother of four, and an active professional.

Her funeral service will be on held Saturday, July 30 at 4 p.m. at St Martin’s Church, 50 Orchard avenue, Providence, R.I., 02906.

In lieu of flowers please donate in her name to Planned Parenthood, plannedparenthood.org, or one of the theatres she loved: Trinity Repertory Theatre, trinityrep.com, or The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre, gammtheatre.org.