Lesley Frost Endowment Established
The Trustees of the Robert Frost Farm approved the establishment of a permanent endowment fund in the memory of Lesley Frost, the eldest daughter of Robert and Elinor Frost. Lesley Lee Francis first proposed the idea of creating a fund in her mother's name.
The Lesley Frost Endowment is a fitting tribute to the person whose unsurpassed efforts to preserve the details of Frost's years on the Derry Farm have provided humanity with valuable insight into the life and times of the struggling poet during the most critical period of his literary development. Through her composition notebooks, an integral part of the Frost children's home-schooling lessons, Lesley offers the reader a rare and intimate glimpse into this family's unique history from 1905 to 1909.
Lesley Frost wholeheartedly shared her father's fondness for the Derry Farm and in 1974, supervised the restoration of the homestead and surrounding grounds in accordance with childhood recollections of her family's years of residence there. It was she more than any other who brought her father's dream of establishing a living memorial to his memory to fruition. Because of her dedicated efforts, visitors who tour the historic site are transported back to the early 1900s to experience the era as the Frosts lived it over a century ago.
Dr. Francis and her daughter Deborah Lee Zimic generously contributed $10,000 to start up the fund which is enhanced by a $1500 contribution from the board of trustees. The trustees also pledged all donations from the on-site donation box, along with all stipulated gifts for the Lesley Frost Endowment to be applied to the principal of the endowment.
Lesley Lee Francis has been a presenter at several of the summer literary series events, sharing memories of her famous grandparents and relating stories from her mother's life as Robert Frost's eldest child. She is the author of Robert Frost: An Adventure in Poetry, 1900-1918.[2004].
Anyone wishing to contribute to the Lesley Frost Endowment Fund should send a donation to:
Trustees of the Robert Frost Farm
P.O. Box 1075
Derry, NH 03038