Frances Elaine Vacura, a longtime resident of Decatur County, passed away on March 28th, 2021 at the home of Jeff & Gayle (Vacura) White, Paola, KS. at the age of 88.
She was born August 21, 1932, in her great-grandfather’s home in Akron, Co., the daughter of Thomas (T.J.) and Lola Mae (DeGifford) Bullimore. She lived with her family in Sidney & Glasgow, Montana until she was five years old when they moved to Fruita, CO. She spent three years in Black Point, CA during World War II while her father worked in the Mare Island naval shipyards in Vallejo, CA. They returned to Colorado where she graduated from Fruita Union High School in 1950. She graduated from Southwestern Bible Institute Junior College in Waxahachie, Texas in 1952 where she worked in the women’s dorm office at the PBX board while studying toward an education degree.
She taught in Dresden and Jennings grade schools
during the school terms from 1952 to 1956 and attended Western State
College in Gunnison, Co. in the summers where she also worked as a
receptionist in the women’s dorm office. She was a member of the College
Hiking and Recreation Club while attending there.
On May 27, 1956, she married DeWayne Lee Vacura in the Jennings
United Methodist Church. He was called to serve in the military in the
spring of 1957. He was stationed in Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia
where they lived for three months. When he was stationed in South Korea,
Frances taught a semester in the Dresden school system and then moved
to Colorado where she worked in the Grand Junction First National Bank
until he returned. He was stationed at Fort Riley, KS where they
resided until he was discharged in 1959. They made their home on a farm
in Northwest Jennings Township while farming with his parents before
moving to the Vacura family home place in 1968 where they raised cattle
and farmed until buying a home in Oberlin in 1987 to be near his parents
while continuing to farm. She worked for The Oberlin Herald as a
typist and proofreader for nine years.
She was a lifelong member of the Assembly of God Church, first in
Colorado and then in Kansas. She taught elementary Sunday School classes
in the Fruita, Dresden and Oberlin churches and was a pianist for
church services for many years. She was also a member of the Assembly
of God Women’s Ministries where she served as Secretary-Treasurer.
Survivors include a son, Thomas Vacura and wife Jolene of Clayton,
and a daughter, Gayle White and husband Jeffrey of Paola; 8
grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren, two sisters, Jan Caple, Panama
City, Fl., and Donna Miller, North Augusta, SC; a sister-in-law, Donna
(Vacura) Severns and husband Neil, Beatrice, NE, several nieces and
nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband DeWayne in 2004, her parents, her husband’s parents, 1 brother-in-law, and 2 nieces.
Click HERE for service details.