Tausche, Frances (Gamble)

Frances (Gamble) Tausche, 94, of West Hartford, CT, and most recently of Atlanta, GA and part-time resident at Pawleys Island, SC, passed away peacefully on October 9, 2022. She was the beloved wife of the late Paul Everett Tausche and the daughter of the late Beulah and Hugh Gamble of Kingstree, SC.

Frances was born in Kingstree on October 1, 1928, graduating from Kingstree High School in 1946 and Winthrop University (majoring in chemistry) in 1949. She continued her education earning a master's degree in zoology at Indiana University, graduating in 1951. While at Indiana, she spent two summers at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, ME conducting biomedical research which built what became her lifelong career of work with laboratory animals to study and find solutions for human disease. After Indiana, she worked as a biologist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, TN where she investigated the effects of radiation and certain means for radiation to help in human health care.

Frances met her late husband, Paul in the Oak Ridge Chorus and they married in November,1953. Paul worked at the Oak Ridge Y-12 National Security Complex overseeing the production of fission nuclear fuel and in the development of the fusion reaction processes which was central to the thermonuclear H-bomb technology.

Frances and Paul moved to Trumbull, CT in 1957 and then to West Hartford, CT in 1959, following Paul's long career with General Electric. They lived in the same house for over 60 years where they raised their children, Paula and Jim, until her move to Atlanta in March 2022. Frances worked for 25 years as a research assistant in the Department of Pathology at the UCONN Health Center in Farmington, CT, where she continued supporting immunology research, coauthoring research papers and mentoring an extensive group of graduate students.

After retiring from full-time work in 1991, Frances and Paul spent many months each year at Pawleys Island and continued to travel extensively, often taking her appreciative family members along on vacation tours. Frances voraciously filled her life with her love of family, friends, singing, piano, music, reading, bird watching, gardening and volunteering in her community.

Frances is survived by her children Paula Babiss (Lee) and James (Jane), grandchildren Lindsay (Babiss) Bornheimer (Will), Emily Babiss (Seán O'Mahony) and Hannah Babiss, Charlotte and Andrea Tausche, and great-grandchildren Emma, Taylor and Harper Bornheimer.

A memorial service will be held at a later date in West Hartford, CT.

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