Frances Gilliland, who graced the Front Desk for more than 60 years, managing the old switchboard and passing out lollipops on movie night.  Frances started work in 1924 and was the first woman in the office.

"Miss Information Please", a name dubbed by Leonard Fowle, Boston Globe yachting reporter, was feted on her first 25 years at the club in 1949. "Frances not only answers all the questions," Fowle wrote in the Boston Globe, "but also the personification of tact and accommodation. How many wives whose husbands still were sitting in the bar, have been told, Mr. ----- just left the clubhouse, and she quickly sent them homeward, unsuspecting what her tact had accomplished."

In her 47th year at the club, 1972, Frances was called from her command post during the September General Meeting.  Commodore Nichols named Frances the first honorary woman associate member and the Race Committee appointed Frances an honorary member also, and put her in charge of the wind and the sun.

A testimonial dinner was held in 1974 to celebrate her 50th year at the club.  Frances said, "I knew about the party because they couldn't keep it from me. It was a beautiful night and they had a nice orchestra, and there were about three hundred and nineteen there.  Mister G.K. Simonds was my master of ceremonies, and he was very fine."