Frances Narang; Lifetime Resident of Ventura County

Lifelong Ventura County resident Frances Narang died Friday of a heart attack at her Ventura home. She was 57.

Narang was born Dec. 27, 1940, to Dorothy Calderon and Archibald Van Fansler in Ventura.

She was a seventh-generation Californian, with relatives who were instrumental in the settlement of Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley.

Narang attended Holy Cross School at the San Buenaventura Mission, graduated from St. Catherine’s Academy in Ventura and received a nursing degree from Ventura College.

She was given the nickname “Tiddles” in childhood from an uncle who thought that the lively, wriggling child had the unpredictable energy of a game of tiddlywinks.

“Everybody would call her ‘Tiddles,’ which she didn’t appreciate when she got older and was out in public,” recalled her sister, Patricia McLean of Ventura. “All the kids called her Aunty Tiddles.”

Narang loved to regale her family with tales of a yearlong stint in India and subsequent round-the-world trip, McLean said. Her exposure to Indian culture and love of elephants left her with a hobby of collecting various representations of the animal, including necklaces, brooches and other trinkets.

Narang attended Our Lady of the Assumption Parish and was a member of the Young Ladies Institute.

In addition to McLean, Narang is survived by two nephews, a niece and numerous cousins.

Visitation is scheduled from 2 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home in Ventura.

Mass will be celebrated at 8:45 a.m. Thursday at San Buenaventura Mission, with burial following at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park.

Memorial donations may be made to the Holy Cross Building Fund in care of the mission.