Her father, who was born in Italy, was publisher of the Bolletino Della Sera, an Italian-language newspaper in New York.

[4][5] She worked with the Red Cross in France and Italy during World War I, using her Italian language skills as "interpreter, entertainer, and nurse"[6] in tuberculosis hospitals.

[3] In 1920, Frugone campaigned for Warren G. Harding,[7] and was a member of the Naturalization Committee of the Overseas Girls, women volunteering to do clerical work to help clear paperwork overloads and speed the legal processes for immigrants.

[3] She chaired the Brooklyn branch of the Italian Welfare League,[17] the Women's Auxiliary of the United Italian Social Service Foundation,[18] and the Women's Auxiliary of the Boys Club of the Navy Yard district.

[21] They had a daughter, Francine Scileppi Petruzzi,[22][23] born a few months after Francis died in 1926.