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Portrait of Frances Eliot Foote. Image appears in King's Chapel publication 'Of Paramount Importance.'
​Frances Eliot Foote was a lifelong member of King's Chapel, and took on a major leadership role after her husband's death. Frances was the daughter of Samuel Atkins Eliot, a former U.S. Representative and Mayor of Boston, and Mary Lyman. She grew up just down the street from King's Chapel, at 31 Beacon Street. In 1863, she married Reverend Henry Wilder Foote, the new minister of King's Chapel. After her husband passed away in 1889, Frances essentially ran King's Chapel for the next seven years until her own death at age 58 in 1896. Frances took on the responsibility for securing guest preachers and interim ministers until the church was able to hire a new minister in 1895. As Foote's successor Reverend Howard N. Brown wrote: "After the too early death of her husband, Mrs. Foote had great influence in holding together the King's Chapel constituency during the long and trying interim that succeeded. The Church is probably more indebted to her than it knows. To me she was the personification of generous kindness, commending everything that could by any possibility be made to bear commendation, and assisting mightily to get the sails of the somewhat becalmed ship once more drawing at their full capacity to start her on a prosperous voyage."
In what instances in your life have you stepped up to the plate to help out in a time of need?

​What qualities make an effective leader?