Lillian Bernice Wills McCrory France 1910 - 2008

WILLS, MCCRORY, FRANCE, JONES

Posted By: Connie Swearingen -Volunteer (email)
Date: 2/4/2019 at 20:17:48

Sioux City Journal
2 October 2008

IRETON, Iowa -- Bernice Wills McCrory France, 98, of Ireton died Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008, at a Sioux City hospital.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Friday at United Methodist Church in Ireton, with the Rev. Tim Walker officiating. Burial will be in Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Visitation will begin at noon today, with the family present 6 to 7:30 p.m., at Porter Funeral Home in Ireton. Condolences may be sent online to www.porterfuneralhomes.com.

Lillian Bernice Wills McCrory France was born June 23, 1910, in Dallas, S.D., the daughter of Clyde and Ida (Jones) Wills. She attended grade school in Eagle Township and graduated from Ireton High School. She attended Westmar College and Iowa State Teacher's College. She started teaching in 1928 in Reading Township.

She married Glenn McCrory on June 21, 1934 at the Little Brown Church in Nashua, Iowa. They lived on the farm until his death in 1962, after which she moved into Ireton. She taught for 17 years in one-room rural schools. She then taught the sixth grade in Rock Valley, Iowa, for eight years. She retired from teaching after teaching the third grade at MOC Public School for eight years.

She married Earl France in 1973 and they made their home on a farm in Idaho. They later lived in Gooding, Idaho, and wintered in Apache Junction, Ariz. After Earl died in 1980, she returned to Ireton.

She enjoyed painting, shuffleboard and the true sign at a Jones-Card Playing. She was a member of United Methodist Church, where she taught Sunday School for many years. She also was an active 4-H leader.

She is survived by her son, Lynn "Mac" McCrory of Ireton and his friend, Sally Winchester of Le Mars, Iowa; a daughter-in-law, Charlotte McCrory of Canal Winchester, Ohio; grandchildren, Bob McCrory and his wife, Sara, Jim McCrory and Ranae Spencer; great-grandchildren, Ashley and Justin Pierce; sisters-in-law, Blanche Marshall of Oregon, and Jeannette Hammans of Indianapolis; stepsons and their wives, Ernie and Alice France, Marvin and Shirley France and Vern and Carol France; and stepdaughters, Helen France and Ruth Campbell.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husbands; a son, Charles; brothers, Hollis Wills and his wife, Dora, Cecil Wills and Morris Wills and his wife, Dorena; and sisters and their husbands, Lavon and Harold Toenjes and Beulah and Bob Ping.