Mrs. Jessie Frances Crews Arbuckle, 93, of Largo, Fla., died peacefully at her residence on March 8, 2014. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends.
Jessie Frances, or Frankie, as she was affectionately known, was born Dec. 4, 1920. She spent her early years in Neosho Falls. She earned an associate degree from Iola Junior College in 1940 and a bachelor’s degree in education from Kansas State Teachers College at Emporia in 1969.
Mrs. Arbuckle began her teaching career in a one-room school in rural Kansas soon after her marriage in 1939 to Harold Ross Arbuckle. During World War II, she and her husband resided in Wichita.
They returned to Iola in 1948, where she lived until 1986.
Frankie was a homemaker for many years. She resumed her teaching career in the ’70s and became a librarian at Iola Junior High School for 14 years. Soon after retirement, she moved to Houston, Texas, where she lived for 20 years until 2006, at which time she moved to Largo, Fla.
Mrs. Arbuckle loved to dance and taught line dancing until age 86. She was fiercely independent and definitely walked to the beat of her own drum. She collected music from all genres and enjoyed sharing her music with all.
Mrs. Arbuckle had a beautiful voice and sang in the choir at St. John’s in Iola. She also played a mean boogie woogie. She was also an imaginative seamstress and an artist, and painted everything from bracelets to oil on canvas. Most of all, she loved to read and always had a book in her hand. Mrs. Arbuckle was very interested in genealogy and spent many hours researching her family’s ancestry.
Mrs. Arbuckle is survived by her children, Nancy Sue Henke and her husband, Kenneth, of Lafayette, La., Mary Elizabeth Hammond, of Seminole, Fla., and Jessie Leah Wilson, Naples, Fla. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Jennifer Cyrus, David Cyrus and Dr. Michael Henke, Denise Loy, Mark Avery, Philip Brown; Shannon Hill and Heather Harmison and many great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
Mrs. Arbuckle was preceded in death by her husband, Harold Ross Arbuckle; her parents, Violet Cushman Minton Crews and Roy Laverne Crews, Moran.
Her family wishes to thank Cookie Steele and the staff of Pinecrest Place in Largo, Fla., for their kindness and assistance in her care.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to a charity of one’s choice.
Condolences may be expressed at MohnFuneral Home, Seminole, Fla. (www.mohnfuneralhome.com).
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