The Monroe Art League, family and friends of Frances Maedel

The Frances A. Maedel Art Scholarship Fund at Monroe County Community College has been created by family, friends and the Monroe Art League to honor and remember a member of the early art scene in Monroe; and a founding member of the organization which later became known as the Monroe Art league. Fran was particularly interested in history of the Monroe area. Many of her artworks represented scenes of early Monroe and a number of her paintings are on permanent display at the River Raisin National Battlefield Park in Monroe. Fran Maedel served as teacher, advisor, mentor and friend to countless aspiring as well as accomplished artists. Fran looked at her collaboration and teaching as a learning experience and she taught us all that by teaching, we also learn. Fran influenced and helped many artists and indeed, made an impact in many, many peoples’ lives. This scholarship will continue Fran’s legacy of supporting aspiring artists by providing support for students who are pursuing an Associate of Fine Arts degree from MCCC.

Frances Amy (Mack) Maedel was born at home on July 24, 1922, in Bangor, Pennsylvania, to Arthur Elwood Mack and Alice Maud Amy. Her father was a high school teacher and her mother a housewife and caregiver. Both of her parents traced their lineage to England and there is even a claim that the family may have been descended from the famous Elizabethan sea captain Sir Francis Drake.

After her father’s death in 1931, Fran’s mother moved with her two daughters to Bangor, Pennsylvania, to live near her parents, and then later to Indiana, Pennsylvania where Fran attended her last year of high school. After her high school graduation, she enrolled at the Indiana State Teacher’s College where she graduated with honors in 1944 with a degree in art education.

She met her future husband, Robert Maedel Sr. in 1942 while boarding a bus in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and he asked her to marry him on every date after that until she finally accepted and they were wed on October 7, 1944, at the Lutheran parsonage in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. For their honeymoon, neither owning a car, they took a street car to Scranton, Pennsylvania.

After her marriage, Fran accepted a position teaching art in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, until her husband was discharged from the Army in 1946, after which they moved to Monroe, Michigan, to be near Robert’s father who was a professional photographer. Their first home was at Woodland Beach on Elmwood Drive which Fran described as ”a snug little cottage with a huge yard.” As a young mother she enjoyed taking care of her babies, fixing up her home, and working in her yard and garden.

When her husband opened his new business, Maedel Cameras, in 1949, in downtown Monroe, they moved to a house attached to the store and Fran collaborated in the enterprise by helping with the processing, tinting, and printing of photographs. She also devoted her creative energy for the next 65 years to her family and the Monroe community. She was instrumental in founding the Monroe Art League in 1959 and became a contributing member of the Toledo Art Club, the Toledo Women’s Artists’ League, the Bedford Artist’s Club, the Women’s Center at the Sawyer House, and the Monroe Spinner’s Guild. She accepted paid commissions from area businesses and donated her time and talent on numerous projects for many non-profit organizations in the area, including the Monroe Historical Society, The Monroe Library System, and the River Raisin National Battlefield for whom she recently researched, designed, painted, and donated three large educational canvases of early Monroe historical sites. Over the years Fran also participated in numerous art shows, winning over 100 awards for her watercolors, acrylics, oils, and pastels.

She was a member of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church and expressed to her family her belief in her Savior, Jesus Christ. She passed away January 27, 2016, at the age of 93.