Frances Irene Scearce, age 75, of Iola, passed away Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, at St. Francis Via Christi in Wichita. She was born Dec. 19, 1947, to Lewis Amos Hunt and Vera Valeda Thompson. However, she was lovingly raised from birth until young adulthood by her paternal grandparents, Jim and Alice Gregg.
There she had the time of her life living on their farm. That’s where her love of all animals came to be. She had several dogs, cats, chickens, pigs and cows that she grew up playing with. Her Grandpa also had a horse that he allowed Frances to ride to get the mail a quarter-mile away when she got older. She would play in the corn fields behind their house, and fish in the ponds in the north pasture. When she was older, her father would visit, and would take nature walks with her, and they always would come home with baby birds, a turtle, or a collection of pretty wildflowers — Butter Cups were her favorite.
She attended the Silver Leaf one-room school until it closed, and finished grade school in Gas. She was a 1965 graduate of Iola High School, where she was an A student, excelling in accounting skills. From here, she went to the Clark’s School of Business in Topeka. She lived through the 1966 tornado that nearly destroyed parts of Topeka. She had a horrible fear of thunderstorms from that day forward.
When she came home from Business School, she took a job with Snodgrass, Routh and Clark Accounting. She worked there for several years.
She was married to Ivan Trester on March 2, 1974. They divorced in the same year. Then she married Charles “Charlie” Scearce on Aug. 30, 1976. Afterwards, they lived in Tulsa. Frances worked as office manager for Park’s Oil Company. In 1986 after Charlie’s sudden death, Frances moved back home to Iola. She started working at Iola State Bank during the day, and evenings and weekends she worked as a cashier for the IGA grocery store and as the evening assistant night manager for The Crossroads Motel.
When Iola State Bank sold to Great Southern, Frances followed her friends to Community National Bank across the street, working until retirement December 2022. She started a loving friendship with Paul Zirjacks nine years ago. He and Charlie had been friends at Humboldt High School. Frances and Paul shared watching many baseball games on the television, eating out and traveling. In 2015, he took her on a trip to Germany to see the castles on the Rhine River! That was the first time Frances had ever been out of the United States. They also shared their love of animals, including Paul’s little dog Patches.
Frances had a kind and loving heart. She was very fond of her niece and nephews.
She loved them as if they were her very own.
Frances was preceded in death by her husband Charlie; her parents; her grandparents, and her niece Lisa Byers. She is survived by her sister Mary Lou Byers (Mike) of Iola, and her nephew Michael Byers (Michelle), and her great-nephews Stephen Byers and Matthew Byers, and her great-niece Sarah Byers, all of Crofton, Md.
Frances had been cremated, and buried in her family plot at Highland Cemetery.
Frances was an organ donor, many people will be able to live a better life thanks to her. There was no funeral. Instead there will be a Celebration of Life to remember her and to say “goodbye.” Date and place will be posted at a later date.
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