Obituary of Franceis Coles

Franceis Imogene Coles nee England died in the early morning hours on August 23, 2015 at Kit Carson County Memorial Hospital in Burlington, CO of natural causes at the age 95. Franceis was born on August 21, 1920 to Charles and Fredricha England at their home near Wilmore, KS. She attended country school for 1st through 8th grades, often riding her horse, Topsy, in cold weather. She attended high school in Coldwater, KS where she graduated in 1938. She met her husband, Doyle, while in high school when they lived at the same boarding house during the week. After graduation, Franceis attended Kansas State College in Manhattan, KS. She double majored in Home Economics and Journalism. She had planned a carrier writing a newspaper column about helpful housekeeping and home economy. Before she could complete her degree WW2 broke out and she left school to work at Boeing Aircraft in Wichita, KS. She rode a scooter around the huge Boeing complex delivering blueprints. In September of 1943, Franceis quit her job and took a train to San Louis Obisbo, CA. She married her high school sweetheart there on the 5th. Franceis returned to her family’s farm near Wilmore for the duration of the war and worked at a local department store, Alderdices. After Doyle returned from the pacific, the couple moved to Buttermilk, KS. While in Buttermilk, Franceis became a mother when she gave birth to her first son, Robert, on October 10th, 1947. The family moved to its current home west of Stratton, CO in 1950. Franceis had her second son, Jeffrey Doyle, J.D., on October 5th, 1951. After five years of farming the family moved back to Kansas during the drought years of 1955 to 59. While in Wichita Franceis returned to work at Boeing. When the rains returned to eastern Colorado in 1959 so did the family. They came back to the farm that they had started with her father, Charlie England, west of Stratton and it was her home for the rest of her life. Mrs. Coles, as her student knew her, started what would become her lifelong passion for teaching the fourth grade in 1960 at the elementary school in Vona, CO. In Vona she taught the combined 3rd and 4th grades for 4 years. During that time she took correspondence classes and summer classes from Hays State College. After finishing her teaching degree in 1965 she began teaching 4th grade in Stratton. She retired in 1985 after taking more than 360 students to the Denver Natural History Museum and the Zoo. After retiring, Franceis became an avid quilter. She completed more than 25 full size quilts most of which included her favorite color, blue. She hand quilted many of the quilts, either on her own or with her friends at the United Methodist Church in Stratton, where she was a lifelong member. She enjoyed reading mystery books, most recently Elizabeth Peters. She also enjoyed keeping up with her former student by letter and by reading them in the local newspaper. Franceis is survived by her sister, Maxine, her sons Robert and J.D., grandchildren Meriah, Megan, Seth, Angela and John, her great grandchildren; Temple, Harmony, Charles, Serenity and Mallory. She is preceded in death by her husband, Doyle, her brother Charles and her grandson Jacob.