Frances Elaine Hays..... Age 88

Frances Elaine Phillips Hays was born in Greenwood County, Kansas, near Virgil on March 30, 1932, the third daughter of William R. and Mabel Young Phillips.  She died November 27, 2020, in Osawatomie, Kansas.  She attended elementary school in Virgil and Madison and high school in Virgil, where she graduated in 1950 as Valedictorian.  She attended Emporia State Teachers College (now Emporia State University) from 1950- 1951.  There was a shortage of teachers and her great desire was to be a teacher, so she began teaching in 1951 in Virgil in the same room she had started school as a little girl.  Over the following seventeen years, she taught while continuing her education at Emporia, receiving her degree in education in 1967.  After the death of her mother and her divorce in 1958, she provided a home and support for her younger brother, Robert, through his junior high years in Severy, Kansas,  and high school years in Maize, Kansas.  She was a second mother to him all his life and a grandmother figure to his children.  In 1965, she moved to Osawatomie, Kansas, first teaching at Union Valley rural school, and then, Osawatomie Junior High School where she taught math to 7 ^th graders for many years.  Overall, Frances taught forty-one years in Kansas schools, retiring from full time teaching in 1992.  But, ever the educator, she continued to substitute.  An exchange student from Brazil chose her as his contact at the Life Care Center where she later lived because he, too, wanted to be a math teacher.

Always active in her church, The First Baptist Church of Osawatomie, she worked as secretary and treasurer of the church after her retirement from teaching.  Frances never lacked for energy and purpose, as she did volunteer work, served on the board of Tri-Ko, Inc, for many, many years, and was president of that board.  She coordinated rides for cancer patients in Miami County, taught a Sunday School class, volunteered at the Osawatomie Museum Foundation, and for a time, with another teacher friend, did wall papering for people back when wall paper was “the” way to decorate the walls.  She was meticulous, matching every stripe, obscuring seams, and turning the wall into a canvas of art.  And if you knew her well or were related, she just might do it for unending supplies of iced tea and dinner.  She took care of elderly neighbors, including one couple who had been friends of her parents in Virgil.  She helped Robert with his many projects —always making sure everything was done to perfection.   This included running the concession stand at his pumpkin patch in rural Lawrence every fall for many years.  She made pumpkin pies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cupcakes, and her recipes were her own.  His grandchildren loved that pumpkin patch!  For as long as her sisters were able, they and she would spend a few days in August at Rob’s Victorian Veranda Country Inn to enjoy their closeness.

Frances proudly proclaimed herself the “boss” of her family, but although it was true, no one minded because they knew her take-charge trait made them all better and more efficient.

Frances was preceeded in death by her parents and three sisters, Freda Gibson, Lola Thornton, Marilyn Sauder, and their husbands, Floyd Wayne, Bill, and Dale, respectively.   She is survived by her brother, Robert Phillips, and his wife, Beverly.  She is also survived by her nieces, Judy Lawrence and her children;  Jan Stuber and her family; Joy Tharp and her family; Sheila Houchin and her family; Lei Anh Russell and her family; Ginger Williams and her family; her nephews, Bill Thornton and his family; Tony Thornton and his family; Ron Sauder; Andrew Phillips and his family.

If all who loved her were stars, they would fill the firmament.

Services will be December 4, 2020, at 11 A. M, at First Baptist Church of Osawatomie, 801 Brown Ave., with burial at Yates Center Cemetery, Yates Center, Kansas.  A visitation will be held December 3, 2020, from 2 P. M. to 6 P. M. at Eddy-Birchard Funeral Home,  203 Main, in Osawatomie.   Masks will be required and social distancing will be adhered to.  A memorial has been established for the First Baptist Church of Osawatomie and contributions should be made to the First Baptist Church with Frances Hays in the memo line and sent to the funeral home at the above address.