by Kristina Wrenn / photo by James French Photography
The 2024 Queen of the Texas Rose Festival, Frances Olivia Faulconer, known to friends as Franny (and now Queen Franny), is a wonderful breath of fresh air. She is poised, friendly, and embracing her role in a holistic and inclusive way that is giving the 91st Annual Rose Festival Court a cohesiveness that belies its size.
As the youngest of four children, all with strong personalities and connection to family, Franny has come into her own serving as Queen. She knows what to expect having been a Royal Attendant to Queen Madeline Shirley Wynne in 2015 and how to impart that to her court. Franny connects with her attendants, in her first big sister role, which is not surprising given her caring heart and her Kappa philanthropy focus on children. During the school year, Baylor Kappa spends Friday afternoons at the Parkdale School in play and activities with the kids. Franny shares in the energy the kids exude when the girls arrive each week. A majority of the programming is focused on positive mental health and wellbeing, something Franny employs to live her best life for herself and as an example for others.
Franny is the daughter of Galen and the late Renée Faulconer. Galen is a member of the Order of the Rose and Renée volunteered backstage at the Coronation in Order of Appearance and Hospitality, as well as co-chairing the Kick-Off Party, helping with the Rose Show, and serving on the Ladies’ Luncheon Committee. The entire Faulconer family, including grandparents Amy and the late Vernon Faulconer, have always believed in sponsoring out-of-town festival participants and increasing Tyler’s reach around the state.
Other family members who have been involved in the festival include her three siblings: brother, Grayson Alexander Faulconer, 2017 escort to Queen Emily Kaye Evans; brother, Clayton Hunter Faulconer, 2018 escort; and sister Caroline Renée Faulconer 2022 Lady-in-Waiting, who was the Amethyst in the Empires of Enchantment festival; uncle, Grant Faulconer 1981 escort; aunt, Sara Faulconer Sands 1983 Lady-in-Waiting; aunt, Catharine Clark Faulconer 1984 Lady-in-Waiting; father, Galen Faulconer 1985 escort; cousin, Lauren Sands 2015 Duchess of Highland Park; cousin, Clark Faulconer, 2019 escort; and cousin, Sara Faulconer, 2023 Duchess of River Oaks.
Franny followed in her mother and sister’s footsteps pledging Kappa at Baylor. She knew it was always something she wanted to have in common with her mother. Having lost her mother, after a long and courageous fight with brain cancer, five years ago this summer, meeting people who knew her mother in college and getting to hear amazing stories from that time has been a silver lining to her painful loss.
Her mother, who she looks more and more like every day, would have been proud of Franny’s comportment and active involvement in her costume and dressing for the festival. Franny has always had an eye for design and knows how she wants to look. She is very visual and designed her dresses for the summer events and the custom pink, bejeweled rose skirt she wore with her Kick-Off T-Shirt.
Once Jacob Climer had created Franny’s costume sketch, she knew exactly what she wanted modified to make it her own. They have enjoyed a close collaboration on her costume, train, crown, and scepter. It is going to be thrilling to see her dress revealed at the coronation given her active involvement.
Franny’s major is Interior Design. She plans to focus on residential interior design as she connects with the personal nature of designing for how people live in their homes. She believes in a mixture of function and beauty in everyday life. Getting to know her clients’ needs; she plans to simplify their lives while maximizing their enjoyment all through the design of the space.
One well-designed area that has been an inspiration to Franny is Beaver Creek, Colorado. The way the community is cut into the mountain, the heated sidewalks, planned transportation, shops, and the Vilar Performing Arts Center all combine in such a way that the design blends into the background, and the living is what you focus on.
It has always been her happy place (and that of her entire immediate family as well). Spending summers in the cool mountain air, attending summer camp with people who have become life-long friends, hiking, going to Glenwood Adventure Park, and riding the alpine coaster are some of Franny’s best memories. Now Beaver Creek is also the place where she can best remember her mother and the joy and exuberance of their time there.
Not to be single-season visitors, the family also spends time in Beaver Creek each winter, ice skating and skiing. The family continues to enjoy downhill racing against each other in heated competition, an activity that always finds one or another of them taking on their father to see who will win.
It is the closeness of family that really shines through in Franny’s reign and her camaraderie with the court. 2024 Queen of the Texas Rose Festival, Frances Olivia Faulconer has a million-watt smile, but when she smiles at you, you are her only focus. What a lovely warmth to shine on Tyler and the 91st Texas Rose Festival.