November 2001
100 year old loves football
Like thousands of other FSU football fans,
Frances MacKinnon enjoys watching the game of the week settled
on her sofa in front of the big-screen television her children
gave her.
Also, like thousands of FSU fans, she may have friends or relatives join her when she watches the Seminoles play.
But MacKinnon is otherwise different from most of the other
fans. This year, during FSU's football season, Frances Horne
MacKinnon will be 100 years old.
She has survived wars and the Great Depression, graduated from Florida State College for Women, married and reared two children, worked as a teacher and principal and spent many years as an avid FSU football fan. That's been high on her agenda since she retired in 1964 as principal of the Golson Elementary School.
"Then I began having real fun," she said. For more than 30 years, MacKinnon and three of her friends went to Seminole games.
Now that MacKinnon has slowed down to a walk and occasional use of a wheelchair, she watches the games at home.
Within a short reach of her sofa are her pins and needles, a telephone, a glass of ice water (she has never drunk a soft drink or coffee), pens, paper and a hearing aid.
Across the room are family photos: her husband, James, who worked at Dozier School for Boys; her daughter, Anne; her son, Jim; and her four grandchildren.
MacKinnon's involvement with FSU began long before it became FSU. In 1920, she left her home in Chipley and attended FSCW to earn a license to teach.
Life in Bryan Hall was perfect for watching the campus, she said.
If a man should walk across campus, she said, the students would yell, "'There's a man on the campus,' and everybody would run to the window to see."
After her graduation, MacKinnon spent 25 years as Jackson County's second-grade teacher.
In 1950 she went back to FSU to get more credits.
After her retirement, she began studying her family's genealogy
and following FSU football.
Her husband would slip an extra $50 in her pocket when she was about to follow the team with her friends. But he didn't go.
"He was a good husband, generous, kind and thoughtful," she said. "But he didn't like football."
For her 100th birthday gift, she said she wants an FSU national championship.
"I'd settle for that," she said. But, realistically, she said, she'd wait for that until her 101st birthday. - Dana Peck
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