Photo of Frances "Fran" Westman (née Crooks) holding a pair of binoculars and seated on a stone wearing a patterned suit. She was the daughter of Alexander Crooks and Ethel May Ellis and a graduate of the University of Toronto. She married John "Jack" Westman and together they had three daughters: Beverly, Janet, and Valerie. After moving from Ottawa in 1945 she and Jack raised mink on their Tollendal property. Fran was also a skilled ornithologist and nature photographer, and was the founding vice-president of the Brereton Field Naturalists Club of Barrie. In 1960 she played a key role in discovering the significant number of migrating songbirds killed each year after hitting a TV tower in Barrie, which led to changes in lighting at the tower to reduce the toll. When Fran moved to Midland circa 1969 she obtained the position of Naturalist at the newly opened Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre. She passed away in Midland in February 2001.
