By Rich Pollack
DELRAY BEACH — Frances Bourque’s name will forever be synonymous with Delray Beach’s Old School Square.
A tenacious and passionate supporter of the complex that serves as the city’s cultural center, Mrs. Bourque spent decades as a volunteer advocate for the former school complex she helped save from destruction.
Those who best knew Mrs. Bourque, who died July 15 at 84, will tell you that her impact on Delray Beach goes far beyond bricks and mortar, even eclipsing her enormous influence on cultural arts.
“Her legacy is that of making a community come together and building a gathering place for all,” said Joe Gillie, who served as Old School Square’s president for more than two decades. “And she did it in such an amazing and graceful way.”
As the driving force in advocating for Old School Square, Mrs. Bourque donned many hats, meeting with community members in the early days to persuade them to help save the chain-link-fenced property that was the victim of neglect, or later meeting with donors.
“Frances had a passion for uniting people,” Gillie said. “She went to every segment of the city and talked with everyone.”
No matter the venue or who was in the audience, her passion for the project seeped from her words.
“Whenever she stood up to speak, you stopped what you were doing,” said Gloria Adams, who initially worked with Mrs. Bourque out of a trailer and later became director of the Cornell Art Museum in the 1913 Delray Elementary School.
“She touched your heart when she spoke about Old School Square and what she wanted it to be. No matter who she spoke to, she always made you want to be a part of it.”
Gillie recalls going to media interviews with Mrs. Bourque and hearing her describe the effort to save the old school as being done sort of on the fly.
“She would always say, ‘I don’t have any idea of what I’m doing, we just do it,’” he said. “But she knew exactly what she was doing.”
Through the years, Mrs. Bourque’s involvement in Old School Square evolved as she remained a leading voice as chairwoman of the board and a board member in more recent years.
All of her involvement, Gillie says, came while she was raising a family with her husband, Bob, an OB-GYN in the community.
“It was fascinating to see the woman who said she didn’t know what she was doing, doing it all,” Gillie said.
Born in Belle Glade, Mrs. Bourque managed to mix Southern charm with a toughness that was a requirement of the job at hand.
“She was a steel magnolia,” Gillie said. “She was beautiful and she was strong — and she was always humble.”
Gillie said that while Mrs. Bourque was often the face of Old School Square, there was much that the outside world didn’t see.
“Behind the scenes she was working twice as hard,” he said.
Mrs. Bourque was serving as vice president at the Delray Beach Historical Society in the mid-1980s when she and then-Mayor Doak Campbell hatched the plan to save the historic buildings that comprised the school.
In 1985, a community task force was created with Mrs. Bourque at the helm, and the following year Old School Square Inc. was formed.
Three years later, Mrs. Bourque recruited Adams to work side by side with her to make her vision a reality, and in 1990, the Cornell Museum opened with Adams at the helm.
Much of the work came at a time when Delray Beach was struggling to restore a once-vibrant downtown that was in decline.
“Nobody wanted to come downtown,” Adams said.
Over the decades, Old School Square became a hub of activities and played a significant role in rescuing downtown.
Along the way, Mrs. Bourque and Adams developed a deep friendship that included taking vacations with their families together or just being there for each other through tough times.
“Frances was just someone who made life better for everyone she touched,” Adams said.
Mrs. Bourque is survived by her husband of 63 years, Dr. Robert G. Bourque; four children, Andrew Bourque (Kira Brown), Chris Bourque, Nicole Wisniew and Noel Bourque (Julie); nine grandchildren, and a great-grandson.
The eldest of six siblings, she is survived by her brother Andy Fontaine and three sisters, Mary-Helen (Rassi), Judy (Tom Deery), and Angel (Steven Welsh). She was predeceased by her brother Joseph Fontaine and her parents.
A funeral Mass was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Aug. 1 at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, 840 George Bush Blvd., Delray Beach. A flower ceremony was to be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 1 at the Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave., in front of the Angel Statue.
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