MARTISA “MAXINE” FRANCIS
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LAMAR- Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the First Baptist Church in Lamar for Martisa “Maxine” Francis, 98, Lamar, who died Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, at Moore-Few Care Center in Nevada, Mo. Burial will follow at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Lamar.
The family will receive friends at the church prior to the service time, beginning at 10 a.m.
Arrangements were under the direction of Daniel Funeral Home.
Contributions are suggested and made payable to the American Lung Association, in care of the funeral home.
Condolences may be shared at www.dfhlamar.com.
Survivors include one daughter, Jill Ann Jenkins and husband Marshal, Lamar; one daughter-in-law, Lori Francis; four grandchildren, Martisha "Tisha" Rames and husband Fernando, Lamar, Brian Jenkins, Germany, Lindsay McKinnis and husband Clint, Webb City and Hannah Francis, Lamar; one great-grandchild, Jackson Lucas and two sisters, Thelma Lehman and husband Roy, Lockwood and Connie Taylor and husband Bud, Kearney and one sister-in-law, Lynn Johnston.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Rex; one son, Joe Francis; five brothers, Dean Johnston, Don Johnston, Bud Johnston, Gailand Johnston and Gary Johnston and three sisters-in-law, Alberta Johnston, Wanda Johnston and Evelyn Johnston.
Mrs. Francis was born Feb. 12, 1925, in Claremore, Okla., to Audie R Johnston and Allie Mae (Madole) Johnston, the fourth of eight children. The family moved to Lamar in 1933. She graduated from Lamar High School in the class of 1943 and played the trombone in the Lamar Tigers marching band. She married Rex L Francis on Dec. 24, 1945, in Lamar and together they had two children, Joe and Jill.
Mrs. Francis and her husband Rex raised and showed registered Percheron Draft Horses. She was active in the VFW and Eastern Star, where she became a "Worthy Matron". She drove the school bus for many years for Lamar. She loved to sew, quilt and paint. One of her extra special quilts was made of pictures of the fiddlers that performed at the Compton Ridge Fiddler Convention in Branson. The quilt was raffled and the proceeds were given to the School of the Ozarks in Branson. She had three brothers who performed and two brothers that accompanied them.
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