Obituary of Frances Cassetty Darnell

Mary Frances Cassetty Darnell passed away at Knollwood Manor on June 13^th, 2023, with her family by her side.

A memorial service for Ms. Frances Darnell is scheduled to be conducted on Monday, June 19, 2023, at 1 PM, from The Chapel of Alexander Funeral Home with Jerry Mercer officiating.  A Private Family Inurnment will take place at a later date in The Macon County Memorial Gardens.

Visitation with the family will begin at the funeral home on Sunday, June 18, 2023, from 1 PM until 6 PM, and on Monday, from 10 AM until service time at 1 PM.

The family requests donations be made to the Macon County Public Library System Foundation, the Lafayette Church of Christ, or a charity of your choice.

Frances, the name she used all her life, was the first of five children born to the late Willard Cassetty and Katherine Meadows Cassetty on a dining room table still owned by her extended family. At the University of Tennessee she majored in Microbiology and Organic Chemistry. It was there Frances met the man she would spend her next sixty years with. On a hot July day in 1961, she married Charlie Darnell in Whitleyville, Tennessee. After two months of marriage and a move to a suburb of Nashville, Charlie went to serve in the Air Force in Germany. Luckily, Frances had a job she loved in the Tennessee State Health Department, where she worked for twelve years.

Charlie moved the family to Lafayette in 1972, much to her dismay, even though she would later admit it was one of the best decisions her family made.  As her children grew, she became active serving in her community and working as a substitute teacher.

Frances had a love for reading and education.  She served on the state board for the Friends of the Public Library for the state of Tennessee and helped establish the Dolly Parton Imagination Library in the state of Tennessee. Frances was also named a Will Hall Sullivan Award winner along with Charlie. She was a long-time member of the Lafayette Church of Christ, Beta Sigma Phi Woman’s sorority, and a leader in the local American Cancer Society. Frances loved and enjoyed the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and was a life-long supporter of the University of Tennessee Volunteers.

Frances is survived by her daughter Kathy (Dirk) Ebener and her son Mark (Lena) Darnell and her grandchildren Caleb Darnell, Lora (Brandon) Hafeli, and Kaylin Ebener. She was preceded in death by her loving husband Charlie in 2021. Frances is also survived by two sisters, Pat (Len) Cannella and Ellen Startup and two brothers, Steve (Sue) Cassetty and Wes (Aneta) Cassetty and multiple nieces and nephews.