Frances Gage Obituary, 1927-2024

Frances Terry Gage joined the heavenly ranks of praise and worship musicians on Tuesday, February 13, 2024, at the age of 96 years. She was born to Joseph Stanford Terry and Kathleen Gist Terry on August 22, 1927, at King’s Daughters Hospital in Greenville, Mississippi, in the midst of that city’s recovery from the Flood of 1927.

Frances grew up in Greenville and attended the University of Mississippi where she was a member of Delta Delta Delta Sorority. Frances met her husband Robert Douglass Gage, III (Bob) in 1946. Bob had just returned from the Pacific Theater where he served as a Second Lieutenant aboard the U.S.S. Miller. Frances and Bob married shortly thereafter and moved to his hometown of Port Gibson in 1947 following Bob’s graduation from the University of Mississippi School of Law. In 2004, thirteen years following Bob’s death, Frances moved to Ridgeland.

Frances was a longtime faithful member of St. James Episcopal Church in Port Gibson, and later joined New Christian Fellowship Church in Port Gibson. It was at New Christian Fellowship Church that Frances’s talent as a pianist emerged. She would spend the second half of her life immersed in the playing of praise and worship music. Her house was filled with sheet music and cassette tapes of the great contemporary Christian artists.

She was preceded in death by her husband Bob; her parents Joseph and Kathleen Terry; and her brother Joseph Stanford Terry, Jr. of Vicksburg. She is survived by three children: Terry Gage Quin (Marvin) of Cincinnati, Ohio; Robert Douglass Gage, IV (Jacquelyn) of Port Gibson, and William Massie Gage (Ginger) of Ridgeland; eight grandchildren: William Cornibe Quin, Elizabeth Quin McCann (John), Virginia Gage Thames (Lee), Robert Douglass Gage, V (Sarah), Travis Alexander Gage, Spencer Andrew Gage, Logan Massie Gage and William Joseph Gage; and great grandchildren Virginia Gage McCann and John Robert McCann, III. She is also survived by her sister-in-law, Mary Frances Terry of Vicksburg; one niece and two nephews.

Graveside services will be held on February 17, 2024, at 10:30 a.m. at Wintergreen Cemetery in Port Gibson. The service will be officiated by Rev. Randy Burge.

Memorials may be made to New Christian Fellowship Church, 208 Oak Street, Port Gibson, Mississippi 39150.