Eva Nicholson Franklin, lifelong learner, compassionate caregiver, and family matriarch, has died at 96

Eva Nicholson Franklin, 96, of Philadelphia, lifelong learner, compassionate caregiver, and matriarch of families in Philadelphia; Jersey City, N.J.; and Naples, Fla., died Friday, Aug. 19, of congestive heart failure at Lankenau Medical Center.

Ms. Franklin was born in Littleton, N.C., and expanded her sphere of influence as a teenager when she moved to Philadelphia in the late 1930s. She eventually married and had three children, and the family’s home on Thompson Street in West Philadelphia became a haven of education and fellowship for family, friends, and neighbors.

Later, Ms. Franklin, ever curious and ambitious, earned a high school equivalency diploma from the School District of Philadelphia and became an indispensable caregiver to three of her five great-grandchildren and endearing companion to her daughter Sharon. For nearly two decades, Ms. Franklin traveled weekly from Philadelphia to Jersey City to care for her great-grandchildren and then spent winters with Sharon in the Florida sunshine.

“They called her ‘Sweet Eva’ in Naples,” her daughter said. “She was so popular that, when people ran into me, they wouldn’t ask how I was. They’d ask, ‘How is Eva?’” Keita Young, Ms. Franklin’s granddaughter in Jersey City, said her grandmother was a “loved, admired, and adored staple” in their community on Mercer Street, especially at the nearby seniors center.

“She loved caring for other people,” said granddaughter Kweli Archie. “Her energy came from making people happy.”

For 76 years, Ms. Franklin was a towering figure in her Carroll Park neighborhood in West Philadelphia. She not only labored over the years as a beauty salon assistant, domestic employee, food service worker at Horn & Hardart, and cashier clerk at Sigler’s Travel Service, she raised two daughters and a son, swept clean the sidewalk pavement and street in front of her house daily, and knew all the local police officers and firefighters by name.

“I never heard a negative word about her,” her daughter said. “And we never wanted for anything.”

In 2000, as granddaughter Keita began raising her family in Jersey City, Ms. Franklin rode the bus north, spent the weekdays caring for her great-grandchildren on Mercer Street, and returned to Thompson Street on weekends. When the cold weather set in, she often went south to lounge on the beach, pick up shells, and fish with her daughter.

A lifelong learner and word-puzzle wizard, Ms. Franklin attended night classes at Philadelphia high schools and earned her equivalency diploma when she was in her 60s. “She always stressed education, and that was a challenge for her,” her daughter said. Archie said: “She never gave up on anything.”

Born Sept. 2, 1925, Eva Nicholson enjoyed farm life as a girl in North Carolina. But she quit school and moved to Philadelphia after her parents died to help raise her younger cousins.

Soon thereafter, she met Stanley B. Franklin Sr., who lived across the street. They married in 1945 and had daughters Shirley and Sharon and son Stanley Jr. They divorced later, and he died earlier.

Ms. Franklin was a memorable cook in her day, and her potato salad, coconut cake, sweet potato pie, and waffles are still the talk of the family. She traveled with them to Morocco, Ghana, Greece, Bali, Jamaica, St. Croix, St. Thomas, and elsewhere around the United States, and her motto was: “Have bags. Will travel.”

She tended to her many plants, was into herbs and healthy supplements, and sometimes, just for the enjoyment of it, walked from work in Center City to her home in West Philadelphia. “She evolved as a model of health in mind, body, and spirit,” her family said in a tribute.

In Florida, she did yoga and water aerobics with her daughter, attended spring-training baseball games, and rode in the annual Martin Luther King Day parade.

“Granny was our rock, our tree, and our river,” Archie said. “She kept us grounded, nourished us, and abundantly loved us.”

In addition to her children, two granddaughters, and great-grandchildren, Ms. Franklin is survived by two other grandchildren, three sisters, and other relatives. A brother and sister died earlier.

A viewing is to be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1, at Yarborough & Rocke Funeral Home, 1001 N. 63rd St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19151. A memorial service is to be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 2, at Triumph Baptist Church, 1648 W. Hunting Park Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19140. The Friday service is to be livestreamed at www.yarboroughandrocke.com.