Françoise Isabelle Thérèse Marthe Pomert (née Corvol) of Newport, Rhode Island, died peacefully at home at the age of 89 on November 7, 2024.
Françoise was born in Paris, France on February 5, 1935, to Robert and Marie Denise Corvol. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Robert (Bob).
Françoise was a fiercely devoted and protective mother to her four children: Roland, Gerard and his fiancée Dianne Grippi, Francine, and Eric and his wife Kristin. She was an adoring grandmother to her two grandchildren, Nicole and Robert. She is survived by her older sister Marie-Claude Hillerns, her younger sister Dominique Corvol, and her youngest brother Xavier Corvol.
At the age of 19 in 1954, Françoise married Bob in Paris, and a few months later sailed across the Atlantic to begin a newlywed American life in Manhattan before moving to a lively international suburb in New Jersey.
She was known for a dry French wit and waved off nonsense without hesitation.
She was a natural mother from the start, an excellent cook, and a deeply compassionate listener. Her children’s friends took to her immediately like a second mother. She contributed to the sense of confidence and belonging in each person she touched.
Her children have all expressed what a valuable example she embodied of family love and courage in life’s ups and downs, tempered with humor and patience.
A mass in her honor by Reverend Dr. Jaegil Lee was held at Saint Paul’s Methodist Church in Newport on Sunday, November 10 at 10am with friends and family attending on Zoom from France and New Jersey.
Her ashes will be interred in the Corvol family grave in Clamecy, France.
Her natural simplicity and desire to not stand out made her all the more remarkable and adored by all those she touched so deeply with a heart of concern and care.
Eldest son Roland summed it up for the whole family in affirming “She has been the Love of our lives.”
