Frances Dowd Payne

Frances Dowd Payne, 68, of Siler City, passed away Friday, May 23rd, 2025 at 4:17 p.m.

She was born Wanda Frances Dowd on Sunday, August 26, 1956 at the old Chatham Hospital in Siler City, North Carolina to Lillie Belle (Mote) Dowd and George Dewey Dowd, Jr. She lived her early life on Alston Bridge Road.

Fran said at every opportunity that “being a mother of two healthy children,” was her life’s greatest accomplishment and joy, “a dream come true.” Even as academic and professional success were great sources of motivation and pride, becoming and being a momma was most important to her.

Those who remember her, in even her earliest years, remark on her natural intelligence (and the way she showed it ensured everyone knew about it) as well as her unique, sharp sense of humor.

Fran’s faith in God was her foundation, her recall of Biblical scripture was a honed skill and her prayer was thorough daily. She enjoyed singing (especially harmony), watching and following all sports (but Tar Heels men’s and women’s basketball was her favorite), and cooking food fresh from the farm and baking from scratch.

At Jordan-Matthews High School, Frances was excited she got to start on the school’s girl’s basketball team and compete on the school’s first girl’s track team, throwing shot put. She developed her love of learning and her sharp memory in her classes, finishing third in her high school class and serving as a Graduation Marshall. Her older sister, Kay, was her absolute best friend - they were “sisters in every way.” The things that the two of them could talk about were things that no two others ever could, it was a relationship filled with the closest care, camaraderie, and “an inseparable bond in every way.”

Frances pursued her nursing degree first at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for two years, before completing her undergraduate career and graduate school at Western Carolina University (B.S. Nursing, M.A. Psychology). To fulfill her professional vision of helping people, Fran was a Registered Nurse. She worked for the Buncombe County Health Department in Home Nursing Care, served as the Director of Nursing at the Black Mountain Center, and managed in-home nurses for ProTemps Healthcare, in addition to working in other professional roles throughout a nursing career that spanned more than 20 years.

Fran lived the majority of her adult life in Asheville, NC after finishing college in Cullowhee. In Asheville, she met and married Roger Dale Payne and enjoyed their life together full of travel before she became a mother in the early 90s.

After both of Fran’s children, Marilyn and Martin, left Asheville for college, she fulfilled her dream of returning back to Chatham County and the Dowd family farm land, living out the rest of her life on the same road she grew up on.

Frances lived 14 years after surviving a pair of non-cancerous brain tumors, the largest of which had been slow-growing for more than a decade. It was a defining event in her life when they were found and removed in February 2011. She later often pointed out the truth, echoing her surgeon’s assessment of the severity of the operation, exclaiming with gratitude to God what a miracle it was to be alive and to have lived through the surgery. She took great pride in claiming, “I am a survivor.” Despite the tumors having left a permanent impact on her mental, emotional and physical health, Fran maximized her capability and competency by living her life as autonomously and as fully as she possibly could. Fran expressed joy in even her ability to both walk (after relearning post-op) and see (the smaller of the tumors was removed from an optic nerve). She could always find joy in small things, despite navigating large, chronic challenges.

She is survived by her two children, the elder Marilyn Frances and the younger Martin Dale Payne; by her older sister, Vera Kay Dowd Mazurek (Kay); by her father, Dewey, and by her ex-husband Roger. She is preceded in death by her mother, Lillie Belle.

The burial service will be held Friday, June 6th at 2 PM, at Rives Chapel Baptist Church and is open to the public.

Flowers will be accepted and lilies were Fran's favorite, or in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Coventry House in Siler City. A heart-felt thank you is extended to Melissa Garner, among the other excellent social workers with Chatham County DSS, for her exceptional commitment in supporting Fran’s adult life with immeasurable care and unparalleled patience.

Smith & Buckner Funeral Home will be assisting the Dowd and Payne family members.