Frances was born on a summer day in Buffalo, New York, in 1909, to Frank and Martha Laughlin. Her childhood was filled with the colors of her mother’s garden and the stories her father told of distant relatives who had shaped the nation. She carried these colors and stories with her as she ventured into the world, seeking to express them through her art.

After graduating from St. Catherine’s School in Richmond, Virginia, Frances crossed the ocean to study under the tutelage of Europe’s master sculptors. She returned with a vision that was uniquely her own, a blend of the old world’s grace and the new world’s vigor.

It was in Hartford that Frances found her canvas. She married Robert Wadsworth, a man whose lineage was entwined with the city’s history, and together they became part of its future. Frances’s sculptures began to dot the landscape, each a story in itself. From the statue of Thomas Hooker at the Old State House, which she crafted without a single likeness to guide her, to the memorial to children at the West Hartford Methodist church, her works were conversations set in stone.

Perhaps her most poignant piece was the statue of Alice Cogswell, the young girl who had lost her hearing and speech, being lifted by hands that spoke the language of light. It stood as a testament to Frances’s belief that art could speak where words failed, that it could reach into the depths of the human experience and draw forth something universal.

Frances also believed in the healing power of art. She served as a Fine Art Instructor at the Institute of Living in Hartford, introducing art therapy to patients and helping them find their voice through the silent language of shapes and shadows.

As the years passed, Frances’s hands never ceased to create. Her studio was a sanctuary of imagination, where dreams took form and the past was sculpted into the present. She left behind a legacy not just of statues and sculptures, but of inspiration. For those who walked the streets of Hartford, her art was a reminder that beauty could be found in the most unexpected places, and that everyone has a story worth telling.