Frances

The road never felt long when I was driving on it with you.

I have experienced the greatest privilege to be next to now three people in their moments before dying, and while painful, I also feel extreme feelings of honor and gratitude to be in the space of in between earth and heaven.

It is an eerie and magical place, this space of witnessing someone transition from their physicality to their spirituality and my thoughts often go from can they hear me to what are their eyes seeing while they are closed?

Two days before Thanksgiving, my dear friend Frances, left this world to move on to a much better one, and her son called me to let me know the time was near.

Frances came into my life 23 years ago when she called my dad’s house asking me would I like to buy her restaurant.

For almost fourteen years, she and I worked side by side—counting the register, reconciling bank statements, bussing tables, creating catering proposals, lugging cases of wine to customers’ cars and so much more. One of the most meaningful experiences of my life was traveling to Manhattan with Frances and Loriana to show them the city I loved so dearly. It was the first and maybe the only time Frances flew on an airplane.

When I left On the Square in 2016 to run Tarboro Brewing Company, Frances continued overseeing the operations with Stephen and sometimes for Stephen. One afternoon in 2018, Stephen shared his concerns with me about Frances’ health. “Something’s wrong, but I don’t know what,” he said.

Sure enough, I noticed it too. I called her son. Everyone had noticed it.

It took almost a year, but the doctors finally diagnosed Frances with Parkinson’s Disease, and by this point, it was clear that Frances should not be working a 40-hour work week where the majority of it was spent on her feet.

We had to say good-bye to Frances, and when she left On the Square, a piece of the restaurant’s soul left too. There is not a day where I walk into that building where I don’t feel the void.

For the past six years that Frances has been absent from On the Square, her devoted family has taken care of her as she deteriorated at what felt like a rapid rate.

At first it was a wheelchair and then a tracheostomy tube and eventually, Frances was confined to a bed where she could no longer speak.

In 2023, when On the Square turned 21, Stephen and I published our On the Square Cookbook and dedicated it to my dad and to Frances. We took the cookbook over to her first before we released it and I still have the message of her broken voice saying how much she loved it.

Yesterday I had the honor of speaking at her funeral while a full church honored her beautiful life.

My message is below:

Good afternoon, my name is Inie Ribustello, and my husband and I worked with Frances for many, many years.

I believe my best way to honor Frances is to tell the story of her legacy and how she laid the foundation for our restaurant On the Square.

A small kitchenette in the heart of downtown Tarboro, Frances Liverman owned and operated On the Square for 10 years before selling the building and the business to my dad and Dr. Richards. The plan was for Stephen and me to run the business and eventually buy them out.

Frances made the brave and risky decision to stay on as our General Manager, trusting us with her beloved 10 year’s work.

Frances nor I ever talked about this, but that decision must have been a terrifying one for her to make. She didn’t know Stephen at all and she barely knew me. Not to mention neither of us had any experience in owning a restaurant.

There is no doubt in my mind that Frances must have prayed long and hard about what to do, and that her prayers were heard and she felt God tell her it was in His will for her to work with us.

And that is what she did.

For 17 years.

For over seventeen years, Frances was the heartbeat of our business. She was the constant. She loved our collaboration that was so untraditional in so many ways.

Never having drunk wine, she helped make our wine store thrive, quite possibly being the only non-drinker who could sell three cases of wine before we even opened for lunch.

Frances baked cakes and bread pudding and key lime pie and tiramisu and as she did it, she taught and coached Loriana who is still baking Frances’ same recipes today.

Customers had Frances’ cell phone number; they brought her gifts and they knew she was the one who could get Stephen and my ears about a catering request he still hadn’t responded to or a reservation request I didn’t think we could accommodate.

For every new and different idea we brought to the business, Frances met them all head on and embraced them—from printing checks using Quickbooks online to implementing Open Table as our reservation system to handling the health department inspections better than anyone I have ever known.

Frances did all of these things alongside of being a devoted wife, a loving mother, a faithful servant to this church and a deeply loyal friend.

When Frances asked me several years ago to speak at her funeral, I choked up thinking about a world where she wasn’t in it.

And as she deteriorated to where she could not speak at all, I felt so much peace in how strong and grounded her faith was knowing God was waiting for her with open arms.

I’ve been thinking about this high honor of Frances asking me to memorialize her, and while I know it was because of our special friendship, I also believe that it was important for people to know the role she played in making On the Square the place that it is today.

Frances was the rock—the cornerstone—of our restaurant, and without her, it would not exist as we know it.

Frances did so much more than manage On the Square. She blessed it.

She blessed the space, she blessed the people who worked there and the people who ate there; she blessed Stephen and me and our leap of faith in coming back to Tarboro to create a place that positively changed so many lives and livelihoods.

Many of you know Frances as a devoted lover of Christ who gave so much to this church, and that is so true.

And I think it is important to know that Frances also gave to so many outside of her congregation in her everyday life—she spread the joy of Jesus with all who visited On the Square—those who longed for belonging and those who believed they already had it.

Frances walked her walk when the pastor nor the pews were watching—she was a living testimony to loving your neighbor, all of our neighbors and I am a grateful and a blessed child of God to have been a daily witness of her faith.

On Tuesday when I got to love on Frances hours before she breathed her last breath, Stanley and Ashley allowed me to pray over her.

I prayed for peace and comfort on her transitioning, but I also said prayers of gratitude because when I was working with Frances, the road never felt long when we were driving it together.

My sweet Frances, you are a gift to so many, and I am forever grateful for the gift you have been to me.

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Love your people—we are only here for a short time.