Frances Allene Vice

Frances passed away peacefully at her home on May 1, 2018 with her family by her side after a brave battle with breast cancer.  She was born on October 4, 1924 in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Delbert Clyde (D.C.) and Fannie McKinney Cox, an only child.  D.C. was a pharmacist and her mother was a homemaker.

D.C. and Fannie owned a drug store in Tulsa until Frances was twelve when D.C. became a salesman for a pharmaceutical company and moved his family to Oklahoma City to be closer to his work. He became a part owner in a drug store there.  Frances had many stories about helping her parents in the drug store and learning how to work behind the soda fountain. 

Frances graduated from Capitol Hill High in 1940 when she was sixteen years old.  Because of her young age, her parents had her work in the store for a year before she started school at Oklahoma University.  In high school, Frances developed a love of music, especially piano and trumpet and carried that love to OU.  While attending college, Frances was a member of the marching band and Alpha Mu Eta, an honorary music sorority.  Frances attended OU for two years but was a loyal Sooner all of her life.

While Frances was in college, D.C. retired from his pharmaceutical job and he and Fannie bought a drug store in Carnegie, Oklahoma.  During one summer when Frances was at home and working in the store, she met a local young farmer, Milton Vice.

Milton and Frances were married in Carnegie at the home of her parents on September 28, 1944.  After the birth and loss of their first child, Dennis Ray, in February 1948, Milton and Frances came to Anton, Colorado and leased farm ground close to family friends James and Mary Catherine Donnelly. They would live in Colorado during farming season and in Oklahoma the remainder of the year.  In 1951, when a house and farm came up for sale, Milton and Frances purchased the property and moved to Genoa where they would reside the remainder of their lives.

Two children were born in Denver and grew to adulthood in Genoa, Patricia Gwyneth Vice and Brady Vice. Both still reside in Genoa.

Frances loved being a homemaker and farmer’s wife and was a skilled seamstress and cook. She enjoyed music, especially classic country and gospel and enjoyed reading and traveling.  In their later years, Milt and Frances traveled in their motor home often meeting one of their children in places such as Las Vegas or Bullhead City.  After Milton died in September 1998, Frances enjoyed traveling with her daughter.

Frances was proud to watch her Grandson Jason grow into adulthood and start his own family with wife Amy.  Their two daughters, Skyler Jo and Aubrie Mae, brought joy to Frances as she attended their school and 4-H events.

Frances is preceded in death by her parents D.C and Fannie; husband Milton and son Dennis Ray. She is survived by her daughter Patricia, son Brady and wife Joyce; Grandson Jason and wife Amy; Great Grandchildren Skyler Jo and Aubrie Mae; Step grandchildren Amanda and Dee Rohrbaugh and James and Char Gilbert of Erie, Colorado.  Step Greatgrandchildren, Chloe Rohrbaugh and Cherokee and Cole Charlesworth; and Miranda, Josh, Matthew and Jacob Gilbert.

In honor of Frances’s love of kids and 4-H, memorial donations may be made to Lincoln County Buyer’s Club, P.O. Box 460, Limon, CO  80828.