Frances Carol Gocs

Frances Carol was born on December 17, 1941 to Leo and Vera Berka, in Bronx, New York. She lived there and for a time in Corona and then Baldwin, NY. During her childhood, her father remarried and along with him and his new wife, Frances lived with her cherished grandmother. Frances was a child full of joy and wonder, learning to ride a horse, to sketch, paint, and play piano.

In 1959, she graduated from Baldwin High School, with a secretarial and stenography major, with which she went on to work in New York city. She was known by friends and family as “Fran” and “Carol”, and enjoyed spending time with her grandmother and father, and going out with her girlfriends. At a dance hall, she met Antal Gocs III, a young émigré from Hungary, and a promising engineering student. They married in 1963, started a family in Queens, moved to the Bronx, then to Brooklyn, and lastly lived in Suffolk County, New York.

Married for over 35 years, Frances was a pioneering home maker, supporting her husband’s demanding roles as a US defense engineer and a nostalgic do-it-yourself ruralist. She tailored clothes, gathered wood, tended coal and wood stoves, mended cuts, and cured ailments. She planted, and nurtured -- animals, flowers, vegetables, four active children and a grandchild. She wrote, read avidly anything she could on an unending range of topics, enjoyed discussing movies and the news of the day. She shared and instilled any wisdom she gained, from life, her books, music, and from prayer.

She had an unquenchable curiosity and love of life, and was a woman of devout faith and resolute spirit. In all her years, she endured and never complained. She laughed and smiled, listened attentively, and looked ahead, always putting her family’s needs ahead of her own. All of these qualities she imbued in her family, especially her children. They will carry and revere her spirit all the days of their lives.

Frances eventually moved with her youngest son and daughter to Arizona, where she made Dewey and Prescott her home. She supported all her children, always, until the moment she was accompanied home to Heaven, in late January 2024.

Frances is survived by her four children, Antal Gocs IV, Elizabeth (aka Erzsebet) Gocs, Laszlo Gocs, Margit Devries, granddaughter Angela Rose Gocs-Yowell, daughter-in-law Valerie Gocs, and a great extended family. She was predeceased by her parents, a sister, a cousin, and her husband.

A visitation will be held on Friday, February 16, 2024, from 11:00 am – 12:30 pm, with a Christian service to follow at 12:30 pm at Ruffner-Wakelin Bradshaw Chapel, Prescott Valley, AZ. A Christian Burial Mass and Interment for Frances will be held in New York, At a later date.