Frances (Ketchum) was born in Saginaw County, Michigan on July 2, 1903. With her parents she moved to Saskatchewan when she was quite young. She took all of her schooling in Saskatchewan and decided that she would also like to be a teacher. She obtained her degree from a college in Regina and from there went to teach at a small country school in Arcola. While teaching she boarded with the Bennetts and it was their son, Elmer, that was to be her future husband. On August 18, 1925, Elmer and Frances travelled by horse and buggy to a lake north of Arcola where the minister and his wife were taking their holiday. The couple was married at the lake and then returned to Arcola. Their daughter was born in Arcola in December 1926.

In 1928, Elmer and Frances picked up their belongings and headed for Hythe. Their oldest son was born just out of Hythe in June. In December 1931 they packed up their belongings once more and arrived in Fort St. John. They moved to the Two Rivers area and built their first house which had a dirt floor and a tar roof. The couple had three more boys that were born in the old Providence Hospital.

In 1933, Francis helped to form the Willing Workers Club. In this club the women would visit, do crafts, Frances would crochet, tat, knit, and they would exchange recipes. The club owned a community hall and every Christmas they would travel by horse and wagon to supply gifts for all the children. In 1934 the Bennetts opened up a post office at Two Rivers in a small house. They ran the post office until 1958. The Willing Workers Club became the Sunrise and Two Rivers Women's Institute in 1961 and Frances became the secretary. Just before she passed away in 1987 the institute gave her a lifetime membership. Frances also helped in the gathering of funds and stories for the book Pioneers of Sunrise and Two Rivers.

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