Frances Marie Lowery Kola-Bankole was born in Des Moines, Iowa on August 11, 1927. Raised by her maternal grandparents, she was an early outlier. She loved to read and even as a youngster had unexpected interests. She was the first in her family to graduate both high school and college.

A 1945 graduate of East High School in Des Moines, she moved to Minneapolis to attend the University of Minnesota where she obtained her Library Science Degree. She worked as a librarian at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

Frances met her husband, Sebastian Isola Kola-Bankole (deceased) in Minneapolis. A Nigerian national, he was completing his Bachelor of Architecture degree at the University of Minnesota. They married and moved to Lagos with twin daughters Felicia Arlene and Francine Elaine.

In her early fifties, she went back to school and in 1988, obtained her Master of Journalism and Communication degree from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. She strongly believed in education and was a lifelong learner.

Frances believed in her community and practiced what she exhorted. She joined the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and was an active member. Regardless of location or country, she volunteered with several organizations including Women's Corona Society Lagos where she served and held in numerous board offices. She volunteered with the Senior Corps Grandparent Program for seventeen years. She was a foster grandparent at the St. Joseph's Home for Children in Minneapolis. An avid lover of music, for twenty years she was a docent at the Minneapolis Orchestral Hall. She loved jazz music and was a member of the Bechtler Museum Jazz Affinity group in Charlotte, North Carolina. Until her health became frail, she hardly missed a concert.

Frances Kola-Bankole became a world traveler in the 1950s, at a time when young Negro women did not usually venture alone outside the United States. She would continue to travel the world after she met and married her husband. In 2018, in her 88th year, not only did she climb to the top of the turret of a 11th century Spanish medieval castle, she walked around the entire keep, dungeon and steep entrance to the castle.

Growing up as a Baptist, she was active at every church she belonged to. Her favorite scriptures are: II Chronicles 7:14 and Isaiah 50:7. Her favorite hymns are: I Want Jesus to Walk with Me and It is Well with my Soul.