When Fran Moreland Johns reconnected with her college boyfriend and future husband in the early 1990s, they remembered how much they had in common—an embrace of the arts, a love of nature, and a desire to give back. She supported organizations focused on women’s rights, end-of-life issues, and reproductive justice. He supported music and the arts, as well as environmental groups.

“We spent many happy hours introducing each other to our favorite causes,” recalls Fran, a writer who lives in San Francisco, of her husband Bud Johns, who died in 2019. “Trust for Public Land had long been among the most important to him. It was a no-brainer to Bud that TPL should be included in his will.”

“A gift to an heir might express gratitude or affection. A gift to an organization like TPL says that and more. It tells your heirs what you believed in—what was vital to your life. I think there’s no better way to ensure that vitality continues.”

Justice was the common thread running through much of their philanthropy. “Bud loved the outdoors and, like me, he appreciated that TPL was not just protecting wide open spaces, but also working in urban areas,” she pointed out. “One of the things I love most that TPL did is this wonderful playground I walk by fairly often in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, where they desperately needed a play space. Every time I walk by, I think ‘Yay us.’”

The couple also shared a deep concern about the warming climate and knew land conservation “mitigates some of the damage” that has been done to the planet. “That was important to him, and it is to me,” she said. “Every little tree helps.”

Fran, who is 92, is the author of several books, including Dying Unafraid and Perilous Times: An Inside Look at Abortion Before and After Roe vs. Wade. These days, she stays busy writing for print and online publications; last year, she launched her own Substack. She’s also a tireless walker. “Walking keeps me alive,” she says simply. “I walk anywhere from two to four miles a day. I love urban walks, especially in beautiful San Francisco.”

The city became her adopted home after her marriage to Bud. (She grew up in Virginia and raised her family in Georgia.) They dated in college in Michigan, but after school they went their separate ways. When they ran into each other in Boston in 1991, it was the first time they’d seen each other in 37 years. Both had previous marriages but were newly single, and the spark was still there. They married the following year, and Fran moved to San Francisco, where Bud had lived since 1960.

Just days after they married, the couple joined Trust for Public Land on a boat trip in San Francisco Bay to see an island the organization had recently protected. Over the years, they’ve closely followed other TPL projects.

“Because I live in San Francisco, I get to see the wide variety of good works done through partnerships with TPL,” she said. “There are urban playgrounds and schoolyard improvements within the city’s density. But a short bus ride away are unspoiled acres of nature’s beauty preserved for the enjoyment of everyone. Knowing that all these projects benefit the least privileged among us, along with those more fortunate, just proves the name of ‘Trust for Public Land.’ We are all entrusted with the public land.”

Fran says leaving a legacy is “the easiest thing anyone can do.” With three children and five grandchildren, she has specified gifts to her family. But bequests to the causes she and Bud supported are equally important. “A gift to an heir might express gratitude or affection,” she explained. “A gift to an organization like TPL says that and more. It tells your heirs what you believed in—what was vital to your life. I think there’s no better way to ensure that vitality continues.”