A Love Story in Act Three

Shortly before her marriage to Frank, Jane Folwell wrote, “It may be difficult for younger people to understand, but people in our age bracket do need love and companionship of our peers. Perhaps we are more supportive of each other simply because we understand how much that support means...”

Jane and Frank Folwell were lucky enough to find that love…that support. They came together late in life, after both had lost their mates to many years of cancer. And they met after each had been very successful in very different careers in different places.

A lifelong Davenporter, Frank Folwell left his hometown only for the University of Iowa and the U.S. Navy in World War II. He carried on and enlarged the family business his father established in 1904, Folwell's China and Gifts. “From shipping room to shipping room in 50 years”, he joked as he helped his son Dave, when handing over the stores to him. From his first marriage to Helen Cox Folwell, Frank, Jr., Frank's other son, has worked in journalism as a photographer and as an editor with USA Today.

Jane Folwell grew up in Davenport also. During World War II she studied speech and drama at Marycrest College . Later she transferred to Northwestern University . But her career was in politics; she worked in Des Moines for Fred Schwengel, Davenport representative. She also worked in Washington , D.C. for a number of legislators. Some of them included Barber Conable, Chairman of House Ways and Means Committee; later the President of the World Bank. Jane and her first husband, Robert T. Borth, retired to Davenport in 1974, when Jane became an active volunteer with the Mercy Hospital Auxiliary. Her strong interest in health care led to her service as Auxiliary President and architect of the merged auxiliaries when Mercy and St. Luke's Hospitals joined to form Genesis Medical Center . When the “Heart of Mercy” campaign blossomed into the Mercy Hospital Foundation, Jane was there again—serving as President, board member and donor for many years.

Jane and Frank's strong attachment to their community led them into wide-ranging philanthropies in the Quad Cities—most notably scholarships at local universities and the University of Iowa, leadership gifts to Junior Achievement and the Vera French Mental Health Center, and steadfast support for local cultural institutions.

“I never designate my gifts,” Jane says, “because I feel, having served on many boards, that the people closest to the organization know best how to utilize what I give.” The Frank and Jane Folwell Fund in the Davenport Area Foundation therefore will be undesignated, although a letter of guidance will remind the board of Folwell's broad community interests.

Jane and Franks' late-life love resulted in an intensely happy marriage from 1992-1997 when Frank died of thyroid cancer that first struck him in 1989.

While their substantial assets made it possible for Frank and Jane to donate important gifts during their lifetimes, neither one of them was ever reluctant to pitch in and work as a hands-on volunteer. They were noted for delivering food for Meals on Wheels, wielding a wrecking bar in remodeling projects for the Humility shelters, building homes for the Habitat for Humanity, and selling Kiwanis peanuts on the street.

Frank was intrigued by the scope of a gift to the Community Foundation makes possible for donors and left a generous bequest. Amplified by Jane's generosity, the Frank and Jane Folwell Fund will ensure the continuation of the couple's long devotion to their birthplace.