Frances Elizabeth Brill Eskridge, age 93, of Marlinton, died Sunday, July 19, 2009, Pocahontas Memorial Hospital. Born
near Buckeye July 27, 1915, she was the second daughter in a family of six whose parents were Ira D. and Lura Moore
Brill.

She lived with her family over the Peoples’ Store until she went to college in 1938 at Fairmont State. She took graduate
courses in English at the University of Pennsylvania in 1938-1939. Frances taught music in an elementary school in
Fairmont and also Greene Street Friends in Overlook, Pennsylvania.

In 1938 she and her sisters went to Philadelphia to study music. Frances took private piano lessons with Messrs. Conradi
and Boyle, well known pianists at the time. Frances was an accomplished pianist both in classical music and by ear. She
could play any piece after hearing the melody once. In Philadelphia she and her three sisters formed a quartet known as
“The Brill Sisters Quartet” and sand in many churches and clubs in the Philadelphia area. The Quartet performed every
Sunday on TV in a Vesper Hour sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1954, Frances married Willard Eskridge, of Marlinton, and moved back to West Virginia and taught music at Hillsboro
and was the band director at the high school. She was the choir director and organist at the Marlinton United Methodist
Church. Frances loved poetry, not only to read, but to write. In 2001 she published her own poems title “A Poetic Portrait
of My Family and Me.”

She will be remembered as “The Music Lady” by all who knew her.
Frances was a retired music teacher and was a member of the Marlinton United Methodist Church.
In addition to her parents, her husband, Willard A. Eskridge, and daughter, Ann Eskridge, brother, James S. Brill, and
sisters, Margaret B. Reinert, Sue B. Stettler and Lois B. McElwee preceded her in death. She is survived by a sister, Milly
Brill, of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania; a grandson, Todd Cleek, of Portland, Oregon; and several nieces and nephews.
A visitation will be held Friday, July 24, from noon-1 p.m. at the church with Rev. Robert Mann officiating. Interment will be
in Mountain View Cemetery.