Frances Dyller

Frances Dyller, 87, most recently of Wesley Village in Pittston, PA, passed away on Saturday April 4, 2026.

Fran was born in Brooklyn, NY on October 31, 1938, to Nettie and Jack Rogers. Fran was a graduate of Erasmus Hall High School, and received her bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College. Fran was the fourth of five children. Her siblings preceded her in death. Fran loved them all – Paul Rogers, Selma Singer, Esther Eisenstein, and her beloved younger brother Barry Rogers. Barry Rogers had Down’s Syndrome, and Fran took especially good care of him and always made him know how loved he was. Prior to her marriage, before any date, Fran always took her brother Barry for a date first, typically to a corner store to get a chocolate malted milk shake. Barry Rogers died young, and Fran preserved his memory by naming her first child after him.

In High School in the 1950s, and despite the prejudices of the time, Fran started a club to support children with intellectual disabilities and their families. Fran’s high school friend Marilyn brought her brother Jerry to the club, because she had a feeling Jerry and Fran would like each other. Jerry went, kicking and screaming, determined not to like the girl his sister wanted him to meet. It did not take long. Jerry met Fran; Jerry was a dead duck. They soon fell in love, and on December 22, 1957 they married. Fran’s and Jerry’s marriage was a beautiful and loving one. They were married for 62 years, until Jerry’s death in 2020. There is a photograph of Fran and Jerry dancing together, while in their 70s, and gazing adoringly at each other. Jerry told his children that is how you should always remember us. And that is indeed how Fran and Jerry are remembered.

Fran was brilliant. She was a writer. She was a poet. And it was completely effortless for her. Her children would try to stump her by giving her absurd words, and she would instantly – within seconds – create extremely clever limericks. Fran never wrote them down; to her it was like breathing. It took no effort and therefore she attributed little meaning to it.

Fran was also a serious poet and writer. Her family treasures her surviving poems. As was common at the time, upon having children Fran did not initially work. But when her youngest child was six years old, Fran entered the work force in pharmaceutical advertising. In the blink of an eye, Fran was at the very top of that profession. She was utterly brilliant. When Fran made a business move, it was reported in the New York Times business section. Fran was also uncommonly kind. Fran was a nurturer, and counsel and wise-woman to all who knew her. Half seriously, half in jest, she was sometimes referred to as St. Frances. And, lest we forget, Fran was also beautiful. She had long dark hair, and much to the dismay of her children, men could not help but flirt with her. But she only had eyes for Jerry.

In addition to Fran’s husband, parents and siblings, she was also predeceased by a daughter, Paula Grace Dyller, named after Fran’s deceased brother who also died much too young.

Fran is survived by her son Barry Dyller and his wife Lesa Gelb, both of Wilkes-Barre, her daughter Ilene Dyller, of Penn Valley, her grandchildren Nathan Gelb-Dyller and Benjamin Gelb-Dyller, and many other family and friends who cherished her.

In her final years, Fran suffered from dementia, which in many ways broke her family’s hearts. But Fran was cared for wonderfully and lovingly by the staff at Wesley Village, and in her final months by the truly remarkable people from Serenity Hospice. Fran’s family is eternally grateful for their love and support.

Funeral will be at Rosenberg Funeral Chapel, in Wilkes-Barre, on Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at 11:00 am followed by burial at Temple Israel Cemetery.

Shiva will be observed at the home of Barry Dyller and Lesa Gelb, on Tuesday from 7 to 9 pm and Wednesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 pm.

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