Frances Underhill, a former senior legal secretary in the Law Department at PANYNJ who retired in 2018, died August 27 in Parsippany, NJ. She was 74.
Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Morris Plains, NJ, Frances was a long-time resident of Bloomfield, NJ. She worked for the Port Authority for 28 years.
Frances actually started her career as a child actress on Broadway. She starred as Gracie Shinn and understudied the role of Amaryllis in “The Music Man” from 1957-1959, and went on to understudy the roles of Gretl and Marta in the original production of “The Sound of Music” in 1959. She was also the child voice featured in Campbell Soup’s “Mm Mm, Good” commercials in the mid 1950s.
Frances also worked in the emergency department at Morristown Medical Center and for several law firms before joining the Port Authority in 1990.
Frances loved joining her friends to enjoy Broadway shows and dining at some of New York City’s finest restaurants, such as Le Cirque. She was also one of the last customers to dine at the Waldorf Astoria’s famous Sunday brunches. Frances was a major NASCAR and Formula One racing fan and regularly attended the Daytona 500. Frances’s many other loves included television soap operas, Chihuly, King Kong, Pink Floyd and Prince.
Frances is pre-deceased by her parents Gerald and Frances Underhill. She is survived by her sisters Sharon Snell (Don) and Ruth Falato (Steve), as well as her two nieces and four nephews.