A woman born in 1917, who operated a business at a time when it wasn’t routine for a woman to do so and whose daughter readily admitted would have felt right at home as a Hippie in the 60s died Saturday.

Mary Frances O’Brien Sims, a well-known business owner in Selma for nearly 50 years, died Wednesday. She was 95.

As family and friends prepare for Saturday’s visitation and graveside service, those who knew Mary Frances — as she insisted to be called — reflected on the woman some called eccentric and unique, but all called wonderful and beloved.

“‘Wow!’ That’s about what you would have said when you first met her,” friend and former furniture competitor Sue Heinz said. “She was quite a lady.”

Heinz Furniture was a competitor — a friendly competitor — of Sims Furniture.

“We had a good relationship. We’d send them customers; they’d send us customers,” Heinz said. “Even though we were in competition with each other, it worked great.”

Services will be Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at New Live Oak Cemetery. The family will greet friends at Lawrence Brown Service Funeral Home during visitation from 9:30-11 p.m. prior to graveside services to celebrate her life.

As for the menu for Saturday’s reception, those attending might find a menu a little cool to the touch.

“Mother wasn’t allowed to do the cooking. Dad did all the cooking,” Sims’ daughter, Gloria Sims said, adding that she simply couldn’t cook, leading to a menu of items that she could make or those things that didn’t involve fire to cook. “Her favorite meal was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, with no crust.”

“The menu Saturday will include those same peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, chicken salad — and anything else Mary Frances enjoyed and could make,” Gloria said. “And plenty of unhealthy snacks like Hersey bars.”

Sims is survived by her daughters, Gloria McClain Sims of Orange Beach and Rita Sims Franklin, a former Selma City Councilwoman, who now lives in Florence, a brother, John R. O’Brien Jr. and her granddaughters.

She is preceded in death by her parents, John Roland O’Brien Sr. and Beulah Blanche Butler O’Brien, and her husband of 55 years, Emmett McClain Sims.

“I remember my daughter knocking over an entire display trying to get a look at Mrs. Mary Frances,” Margaret Cogle, with Gray’s Furniture, said. “She wanted to get a look at her toenails that were painted black. She was such an amazing person.”

It was the unique style — a style Gloria described as “Goth, before Goth was cool” — that made her noticeable, but it was her personality that made people remember Mary Frances.

“Love me some Mary Frances. Went shopping with my mother many times. I didn’t care about the furniture, I just wanted to look at Mary Frances and her black toenail polish,” Iris Pruitt posted on Gloria’s Facebook page as word spread about Mary Frances’ death. Gloria shared many of those comments with the Times-Journal. “Prayers for you and the girls [and] of course Mary Frances.”

Gloria said those in the home with Mary Frances called her ‘Diva’ because of her continued efforts to dress up, wear black and prints. For family friend Rosemary Gleason, her fiery attitude is what she will remember most.

“Her children called her Mary Frances because she did not want to be called mother, or later be called grandmother. She was Mary Frances and that is how everyone knew her,” Gleason said. “I grew up knowing her — all of my life. She was one of a kind. An interesting character up to the end. I had the chance to visit with her a year ago, and there she was all decked out in her black fingernail polish and her jewelry, ready to see us.”

For Heinz, Sims’ ability to make everyone feel welcome was a true gift she shared with others.

“When you left her you felt ‘I’ve known her forever.’ She was just that type person,” Heinz said. “She was also the type of person to tell you what’s what in two seconds. You never had to wonder where you stood with Mary Frances. You would have liked her.”

Although Saturday will be a moment, Gloria said, to celebrate her mother’s life and remember the great stories, there will be some sadness. A sentiment shared by those lucky enough to have known her.

“That furniture store, honestly, was a meeting place for the world because everyone would go out there and visit. She was so much fun and so entertaining,” Gleason said. “She will definitely be missed. She was just a wonderful, wonderful person.”