Frances Borges Lindo began her modeling career at the age of three, when her mother began putting her in fash-ion shows. But it was at the age of five that she learned a lesson she will never forget. Frances tells the story of when she was in a fashion show, wearing a beautiful pink dress and white patent leather shoes. “The lady behind my mother said, ‘Oh, little Frances, you’re so beautiful, and oh, what a beautiful dress.’” Frances relates that she start-ed shaking herself from one side to the other. Then, her mother took her by the hand and took her to the corner. “She circled my face with her finger saying, ‘Little Girl, this fades if you’re not a nice person.’” Then, Frances tells us, her mother touched her heart and said, “This is where beauty is, inside. You must be loving, kind and giving, and respectful to people. And don’t you ever forget it, because that’s where beauty is – not your face, not your body, but in your heart.”
Frances Borges Lindo must have learned that lesson well because her kindness, love, and respectfulness shines through.
She also determined her career choice at an early age. “Modeling is all I ever wanted to do,” says Frances. “And when you’re doing something you love, and you’ve aspired to it, you’ll always be good at it.”
Frances learned the ropes of modeling at Bradford Mod-eling School in Ne w York. While with Bradford Model-ing Agency, she was invited to participate in a six-island modeling tour, which included Haiti, Jamaica, Bermuda, Montego Bay, and two other islands. The models traveled from island to island on Queen Elizabeth’s Diesel.
In 1956 and 1962, she was asked to model in a fash-ion show for the Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority at
Bethune Cookman College. During her career, she has appeared on the cover and in JET Magazine, Our World (now Ebony) Magazine and many other magazines and periodicals. Later, when Our World became Ebony Mag-azine, she also appeared on their cover. She also tells of having performed a one-woman show, with fifteen acts. The tickets were $1.25 per person.
Although she always loved modeling, Frances briefly changed careers in the last few years.
“The job I took in my old age is working with a construc-tion company to renovate houses that have been burned down by fire.” She said, and then describes her job this way: “Imagine coming home from work and fire trucks are there and people are all around. You see the house you have worked for is burning, along with everything you have in that house. Thankfully, you have someone like Frances Lindo there to rebuild your home and to furnish it with all of your needs, including a washer and dryer, linen, a microwave, pots and pans, etc. – everything you and your family need. That’s the kind of work I enjoyed.” At the beginning of the Pandemic in 2020, Frances’s new career was cut short, by a police officer no less. She was on her way to work, driving down Lake Shore Drive, when a police officer pulled her over and asked to see her driver’s license. After shining a light on her license, the first thing he said was “You don’t look like you’re 92 years old.” Then he asked where she was going. She told him she was going to work. At that point, he reminded her that he used to live near her in Hyde Park, and that he had been in love with her since he was ten years old. It was her license plate, “Lindo 1,” which caused him to stop her. Finally, he said, “Go up to that next light and make a left turn and go back home. There’s a pandemic going on and it’s very serious. You shouldn’t be out.”
That was when she stopped working. She also stopped singing in the choir at her church. She resigned from the Links social club. “I resigned from everything,” she said. “I take this pandemic very seriously.”
She has four “wonderful” children (her description), plus her grandchildren, all of whom call her “Mama Fran.” She was married to Dr. Clinton Lindo, a heart specialist, who passed away some years ago.
At 93, Mrs. Frances Borges Lindo is full of life, has plenty of energy, and is as beautiful as ever. What’s her secret?
“Well, I don’t do anything any differently,” she says. I take very little medication, play tennis, exercise at home, take Gingko for my memory, and I never smoked.”
Whatever she’s doing, it’s working and she continues liv-ing the model life!
