Ode to Frances VanScoyoc

Our dear friend Frances VanScoyoc died Sunday morning, January 1, 2012. Nancy and I were with her when she ended her earthly journey during a beautiful sunrise.  In fact, just after Frances had passed, Nancy looked out the window toward the prairie and was greeted by the most beautiful colors in the sky. One of Frances' favorite times of the day was when the sky was filled with baby blue and pink colors during sunset and sunrise.

 Frances in her 20's

 Frances' husband Fred

 Frances and Fred

Frances Lucille Thomson VanScoyoc, 95, of Manhattan, died January 1, 2012, at Wroten House in Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community, Manhattan. Frances was born on January 3, 1916, the third of four daughters of Harry Gillispie Thomson and Tessie Carr Thomson. She moved to Manhattan with her family as a young girl and spent two extended periods in the city.  She attended Bluemont and Woodrow Wilson Elementary Schools and graduated from Manhattan High School in 1936. Frances was a lifetime member of the First Christian Church of Manhattan.

On December 12, 1936 she married Fred L. VanScoyoc at her parent’s home in Manhattan.  He preceded her in death in 1996.

Frances and Fred lived in Wichita between 1936 and 1960 where she enjoyed her work for White Star Industrial Company.  She was especially proud of being one of the first women to be trained in early computer usage for the company.  In 1960 she and Fred returned to Manhattan where she taught children with disabilities at the Federation of Handicapped Children, which was the starting entity for the current Big Lakes Developmental Center. Many children grew through Frances’ skilled and intuitive approach to teaching.

After retiring in 1974, Frances and Fred traveled in a motorhome throughout the United States with their great friends Joanne and Warren Bayer formerly of Manhattan. Frances enthusiastically enrolled in classes in china painting and porcelain and bisque doll making and delighted in sharing her skill with others. Frances and Fred were also avid antique collectors and especially enjoyed driving their 1937 baby-blue Cord in parades and car shows.

Favorites things that brought smiles to her face and great blessings to Frances included:  learning to drive a car at age 44; sitting on the south porch swing of her Manhattan home talking with family and friends; making cookies, especially the world-famous melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies; having her family and friends visit; and a grand vacation in England in 1999 with her dear friend and care giver Nancy Bolsen.

Besides her husband and her parents, Frances’ three sisters Christabelle Fitzgerald, Virginia Green and Mildred Frieri preceded her in death.  Survivors include her daughter-like friend Nancy Bolsen and partner Mary Kay Siefers of Manhattan, nieces and nephews Jerry and Joanne Fitzgerald, Boscobel, WI; Christa Wimmers, Albany, OR; Ted Baker, Cross Plains, WI; Bonny and Dan Shay, Las Vegas, NV; Donna and Bill Bender, Chicago, IL; Concetta and Orzano Peconio, Bensenville, IL; Darlene and Ralph Shortt, East Holden, ME; and Linda and Don Asther, Roland, AR; and many great and great-great nieces and nephews.  Numerous friends will dearly miss her.

Cremation is planned. Memorial services and inurnment will be scheduled for May and will be announced at a later date by the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, Manhattan.

Memorial contributions can be made in Frances’ name to Big Lakes Developmental Center and may be sent to the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home., 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, KS 66502.