West Seattle Blog… | Remembering Frances Smersh, artist and Click! Design That Fits co-founder, 1967-2021
Six years later Click! Design that fits Co-founder John and Frances Smersh announced that Frances was diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s disease and Frances has died. Here is the memory her family shares:
Frances Suzanne (cousins) Smersh died in Seattle on September 4, 2021 at the age of 54. She died of complications from the more recent Alzheimer’s disease, which she had been diagnosed with six and a half years earlier. She leaves her husband, John Francis Smersh, of Seattle, and sister, Natalie Cousins-Robledo (husband, Ted Robledo, son of Enzo), of Pasadena, CA.
Frances was born in the Greater Los Angeles area where she lived with her mother, father, grandmother, and sister. After graduating from St. Joseph High School, she studied at Loyola Marymount University and graduated with a degree in sociology in 1989. At LMU, Frances met her partner, John. After college, they lived in Venice Beach, CA for two years. They married in 1990 and moved to the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle in 1991, where she started her first company, Smersh Design Jewelry. The couple moved to West Seattle in 1994 and bought a house in the North Admiral neighborhood.
Living in West Seattle, Frances continued to research the art of jewelry making, first designing and creating and then selling her pieces at art fairs before expanding to wholesale markets and eventually selling her work in hundreds of stores across the US and internationally. Her passion for art and design blossomed over the years, leading her to expand and innovate her jewelry using unconventional materials like concrete and pearls, cork and powder-coated steel to create exquisite, wearable art.
In 2004 it was Frances’ creative spark, the Click! Design That Fits, a modern gift and accessories boutique jointly developed and curated by her and her husband John. In 2010 they moved the store to West Seattle Junction, where it continues to thrive to this day.
After her success in jewelry, Frances switched to creating visual art through painting and sketching and was a regular featured artist at Click! to see. Her catalog of works is extensive and diverse and has attracted a lot of attention in the Seattle art-loving community.
Above all, Frances had an inspiring, uplifting and giving soul and she always did everything to bring joy to those around her. Everyone who knew her was touched by her friendliness and will miss her very much.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Washington State Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Services take place at the end of September. Updates will be sent to the Caring bridge Journal when the details are set.
The Smershes shared Frances’s journey with their congregation; Five years after moving their shop (WSB’s longest running sponsor) to The Junction, they shared the news of their diagnosis at just 48 years old. They announced this update in 2018, and Frances was able to participate in an exhibition of their work. take part Providence Mount St. Vincent At the beginning of 2020, shortly before the pandemic.