Gwen Franco, 76, area restaurateur

Gwendolyne R. “Gwen” Franco of Wilton, a retired restaurateur and antiques dealer who had lived in Ridgefield for many years, died on Friday, Sept. 3, 2004, at Norwalk Hospital. She was 76 years old and the widow of Albert G. Franco.
A native of Canada, Mrs. Franco was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, on Aug. 6, 1929, a daughter of the late Samuel and Stella Bateman McBride. She grew up in Toronto, and on a trip to New York City, she met her future husband while walking in a park in White Plains, N.Y. The couple was married in 1945.
Mrs. Franco got her start as a restaurateur while living in Michigan. “My first experimentation with foods came after I was married,” she told an interviewer in 1983. “After my interest in food was awakened, I discovered I really had a talent for it, although I am not a cookbook person. I began helping out with food in a restaurant in northern Michigan where we were living at the time.”
Her first restaurant was opened in Nyack, N.Y. In 1975, Mrs. Franco came to Ridgefield and opened the Strawberry Place Restaurant on Route 7. There she also operated an antiques shop, called Stonehouse Antiques. She specialized in Americana and made frequent appearances at antiques shows in the region.
Encouraged by her success in Ridgefield, she and a partner opened a larger restaurant in Naples, Fla., called Strawberry Place II and seating 150. In the early 1980s, she returned north and for a while, operated the restaurant at the Hammond Museum in North Salem, N.Y.
Her last establishment before her retirement was the Schoolhouse Café at June Havoc’s Cannon Crossing in Wilton.
Over the years, Mrs. Franco also did a great deal of catering, including for such notables as Paul Newman and Mrs. William Randolph Hearst Jr., and for IBM facilities and events.
“Mrs. Franco enjoyed a good political debate especially with her son-in-law as well as gardening, travel and exhibiting her exemplary culinary skills but most of all, enjoyed her family,” her family said.
Mrs. Franco is survived by three daughters: Mary Ann Lenahan of Redding, Linda Franco of Ridgefield, and Kimberly Reynolds of Patterson, N.Y.; a brother, Clayton McBride of Los Angeles, Calif; a sister, Margaret Kantola of Charlevoix, Mich.; four grandchildren, all formerly of Ridgefield, Kelly Stackpole and her husband Gregory of Redding, Craig Lenahan and his wife Melissa of South Salem, N.Y., Megan Robertson and husband Christopher of Monroe, and Rachael Reynolds of Patterson, N.Y.; and three great-grandchildren (all born in the last 11 months who “were really special to their great-grandmother,” the family said), Connor James Stackpole of Redding, Katherine Rogers Lenahan of South Salem, and Olivia Ryan Robertson of Monroe; and many nieces and nephews.
Mr. Franco died in 1999. A brother, Vernon McBride, also died before her.
A memorial service will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 15, at 4 at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Cantitoe Road, Bedford Village, N.Y.
There will be no calling hours.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Nursing and Home Care Association of Wilton, PO Box 489, Wilton 06897. The family would like to “acknowledge and thank most especially Susan Germain of the Wilton Nursing & Home Care and the entire staff of caregivers for their care, compassion and love to Gwendolyne.”
The Kane Funeral Home in Ridgefield is in charge of arrangements.