Frances Ahern, former Northport High School social studies teacher, died on February 8 in New York City at the age of 91.

With an undergraduate degree in journalism and a masters focusing on the Chines government, Frances received a Ph.D. in anthropology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1993 and her dissertation on the stylistic variations and uses of pottery among the coastal Mixtec and Amuzgo in Mexico. She spent much time in Oaxaca, Mexico, a place she loved as a second home and where she did research at the archeological site of Monte Alban, driving from New York to Mexico well into her 80’s. After retiring she also taught English as a second language and spent several years teaching at universities in Chengdu, Wuhan and Fujian, China