NORTH BEND – It could be argued that whenever a Valley resident looks at Mount Si, they have Frances North to thank for it.

In the 1970s, she worked as a state legislator to protect the landmark mountain’s trees from logging.

It was one of the victories North achieved for her constituents during her time in public service, which took her from North Bend all the way to Olympia.

That is also why so many mourned her death from complications second to Parkinson’s Disease on March 3.

She was 83.

Frances North started out as Frances Codiga from the Duwamish Valley where her family had a dairy farm. It was along her milk route that she met Jim North in 1938, whom she would eventually marry in 1942 and follow to Washington D.C. so he could play a year for the Washington Redskins.

“She was very kind and loving,” said Shirley Ann Carter, who knew Frances since she was 16. “Everything she did, she did well.”

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