Mrs. FRANCES WILLARD BLAKE WALLACE is the daughter and only child born to the union of Mrs. Mattie A. Harris Blake and William Lewis Blake. Her parents were prominent Jefferson Central (Negro) School educators.

She was raised and educated in Jefferson, Texas in Marion County. She graduated from Bishop College in Marshall, Texas in Harrison County. Except for brief periods in Corsicana and Linden, Texas, she remained in the Marshall, Texas area. After she graduated from college, she embarked upon a 47-year career in the educational field which included teaching experience at the elementary, high school and college levels.

In 1923, she wed physician Dr. Samuel Cleon “S.C.” Packer. However, they were married for only a few years.

In 1937, she married Leroy Wallace — the son of Mrs. Rosa Neale Robinson Wallace and Sterling W. Wallace Jr. of Marion County, Texas. For a few years, they resided in Harrison County, Texas where he worked as an insurance agent & collector. At this time, she worked as the Assistant to the County Superintendent for Public Schools.

She authored various articles which focused on the progress of education beginning with the thesis she submitted to Atlanta University in 1943 (Georgia) entitled “A Study of Intelligence, Some Personality Traits and Adjustments of Seventy Negro Teachers of Panola County, Texas.”

She was also a member of the faculty of Bishop College, Supervisor of County Schools, Jeanes Supervisor, Principal, and the Director of Education. She was listed in Who’s Who In American Education, Personalities of the South, and Who’s Who of American Women. She was also active in numerous civic and professional organizations. She was awarded many plaques and citations from East Texas Teachers Education Association and the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She was also inducted in 1976 into the Bishop College Hall of Fame.