Frances Brinson Shults

Frances Williams Brinson Shults died December 14, 2024. Born in Beeville, TX, she was the daughter of Zebulon Creighton Brinson and Frances Williams Brinson of Tarboro, NC. She grew up in Tarboro and graduated from Tarboro High School, St. Mary’s School in Raleigh, NC, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was presented at the 1976 Terpsichorean Ball in Raleigh.

After college, she moved to Atlanta, GA where she fell in love with Art Shults, and they were married in 1983. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Jacksonville, FL and had two children, Kate, and Rachael. Frances and Art shared a love for food, travel, art, and gardening which was a big part of their 40-year marriage. When they traveled, they sought out great food and drink, sunsets, gardens, and museums.

Frances always said that Art gave her opportunities to explore doing the things she loved both in her work and her volunteering. She enjoyed helping people whether it was teaching them how to use their phone systems through her work at ATT/Lucent Technologies or working with young people and parents as a full-time Director of Youth Ministries or selecting window treatments with clients in their Budget Blinds Franchise. She always gave her time volunteering in schools when the girls were young, helping in her Episcopal church community and later in her retired life, as a Docent at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens and an active participant in St. Mary’s Episcopal Church’s Food Pantry and Organic gardens. She was called by some of her friends, the “project manager” because she was always planning something and didn’t mind sharing her thoughts on how to do or improve.

She is proceeded in death by her parents and survived by her husband, Arthur Shults of Jacksonville, FL, her brother, Creighton Brinson Jr. (Matt Negri) of St. Louis, MO, her sister, Mitchell Moore (Mark Moore) of Belhaven, NC, her daughter, Kate Shults (George Stuart, III) of Orlando, FL, her daughter, Rachael Shults Rose (Josh Rose) of Jacksonville, FL, and her grandsons, George Arthur Stuart Shults and Zeb Hixon Stuart Shults of Orlando.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 11th at 10am at the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour, 12236 Mandarin Road, Jacksonville, FL. The Rev. Canon Beth Tjoflat will officiate with the Rev. Joe Gibbes assisting. A reception will immediately follow the service.

In leu of flowers, memorial gifts may be given to St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Jacksonville, FL Food Pantry and Garden fund (enter in the designation box) online at stmarysjax.org or to Episcopal Church of Our Saviour via a check with “In Memory of Frances Shults / Youth Scholarship Fund” in the memo line.