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Mabel Helen was the 5th and youngest child of blacksmith William Shotliff and his second wife Kate Patterson. Her father died when she was only four years old.
On January 24, 1917 Mable and Leonard Franzen of Spring Grove went to Chicago and were quietly married, surprising their friends and the people of Spring Grove. Leonard was 22 and Mable was 21.
Leonard was employed in the “tonsorial shop”, otherwise known as the barber shop with Joseph Wagner. Mabel was described as “a winsome young lady…who enjoys a host of friends wherever she goes.” They continued to live in Spring Grove on East Main Street where their first son Lyle was born in August of that year and son Russell was born in April of 1919. By 1924, they had four boys, with the addition of Kenneth and Lloyd, one born every two years.
In 1942 Mable was living in the vicinity of 3936 West Main Street in McHenry just east of the train station with just the youngest son still at home. She had been ironing when she was interrupted by a lighting strike that caused a fire at a home just west of station. She had gone to see the fire and was returning, crossing the street to her home by Buss Motor Sales, when she was struck by a car traveling east on Main Street and was killed instantly.
The young driver and his friend were held overnight and attended an inquest the next day. It was determined that the reflection from the lighted signs in the area on the wet pavement of the road made vision poor and the driver didn’t see her until it was too late. The grief of the whole community "was indescribable" according to the news.
At the time of the accident, Mable was the proud mother of two of her sons who were in the military. Son Russell was the first to join in 1939 and ended his service with the Army Air Forces in Alaska. He moved to California and worked for North American Aircraft Company upon his discharge. Son Kenneth joined the army in1940 and was seriously wounded in 1944, suffering a head injury in the jungles of New Guinea. He was awarded a purple heart but rejoined his outfit in the Philippines and suffered severe injuries to his arm, shoulder and throat in action shortly thereafter.
Her two other sons joined the military after her demise. Eldest son, Lyle, was the third to enter the army in 1943 in the radar division. Later he became a doctor in Phoenix, Arizona and lived until 1974. The youngest, Lloyd, joined the navy and in 1945 took part in the invasion of southern France. He survived the war, like his three brothers, and lived until 1983.
Their father, Leonard, moved to California to live with Russell and died there in 1965 at the age of 70. Kenneth, the one who sustained severe injuries in the war, died on December 24 of that year of suicide in Globe, Arizona, leaving behind a wife and child. He was described as always having a "familiar happy smile for his many friends".
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