Frances McEvoy, 78; founded Boston astrological chapter

FRANCES MCEVOY

As they streamed into her Belmont house, those who sought out Frances Coman McEvoy's evening astrology classes were looking to the stars for answers to life's seemingly unsolvable problems.

"I think for many years astrology went into a terrible decline and misunderstanding because people think of it as a fortune-cookie prediction," Mrs. McEvoy told the Globe in 1994.

But for Mrs. McEvoy, a former journalist and lecturer, astrological concepts were a guiding principle. Mrs. McEvoy, 78, who founded the Boston chapter of the National Council for Geocosmic Research, died Monday at her Belmont home of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Wednesdays and Fridays were drop-in nights at the McEvoys. She turned her library, which had windows on three sides, into a classroom of sorts and would often greet people with a warm "Hello, darling!"

"There was a man who was leaving our house one evening, and he said to us, 'I am going to tell my psychologist that for $5, I got a better understanding of myself than from $1,500 of therapy,' " said her daughter, Anne McEvoy Kilzer of Belmont. " 'And she gave me soup and quiche,' he added."

Roderick MacLeish, a family friend, said of Mrs. McEvoy: "She was a larger-than-life person filled with optimism, who never had anything negative to say about anyone. "Her enthusiasm was contagious."

Frances Coman was born in Arizona on a large cattle ranch, and early on, had a knack for spotting the purebreds in the herd. She won a scholarship to Arizona State University, where she studied astrology under the tutelage of Grant Lewi, a leading figure in the development of modern astrology, and earned her bachelor's degree in 1951.

Boston's rich history had always struck a chord with her, so she packed her bags and moved east, lugging her suitcases up and down Commonwealth Avenue until she found a room to rent.

She worked for a time as a journalist, starting at the Somerville Journal and later working for the Waltham News-Tribune. While walking the hallways of the State House as the paper's political reporter, she caught the eye of Somerville's representative, Joseph F. McEvoy, and not long afterward the two were married. He died in 1997.

After raising two sons and a daughter, she returned to journalism, writing feature stories for a number of publications, including the Globe's Sunday magazine.

In the 1970s, Mrs. McEvoy joined forces with the National Council for Geocosmic Research, and launched its Boston chapter. She edited the organization's magazine for many years, and wrote about astrology prolifically in such journals as Today's Astrologer and Dell Horoscope.

The Boston chapter started with 15 members, but grew quickly, she told the Globe.

"We haven't even tried to build up our membership, and we have members in all six New England states," she said. "We have about 700 people on our mailing lists, and we've never really tried to have a membership drive."

She also worked on developing an astrological database linked to the exact birth time of famous people, including Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, called the AstroDatabank.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. McEvoy leaves two sons, David L. of Needham and Stephen C. of Belmont; a sister, Margaret C. Estes of Mesa, Ariz.; five granddaughters; and five grandsons.

A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. today at Story Chapel in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. Burial will follow.