Frances Onacewicz
Frances Darlington Simpson Onacewicz, 83, who served as Secretary of the rector of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Washington from 1966 to 1977, died April 15 at her home in Washington. She had lung cancer.
Mrs. Onacewicz, who was born in Washington, attended the Holton Arms School. In the 1930s she studied art in Italy.
During World War II she was a Red Cross volunteer. In the 1940s and 1950s she was active in relief work for Polish war refugees. Over the years she also was a supporter of such organizations as the Animal Rescue League and the Washington Humane Society.
She was the author of "Virginia Country Life and Cooking," a cookbook she wrote and published in 1963. She also did the book's illustrations. In addition to writing and artwork, she played the piano.
Her first marriage, to Dr. Hayden Kirby-Smith, ended in divorce. Her second husband, Wlodzimierz Onacewicz, whom she married in 1949, died in 1986.
Survivors include four children by her first marriage of Syracuse, New York, Pfafftown, North Carolina, San Diego and Greenville, South Carolina; a son by her second marriage and a sister, both of Washington, and seven grandchildren.
