Grace Fontenot

LANSING, KAN. -- Grace Mary Fontenot passed from this life, after a courageous struggle with renal failure on Monday, Oct. 10, 2011. She went with dignity and faith in God in the company of family. Grace Mary was born June 11, 1924, in Taso, La., to Linzay and Arminie Young. Her ancestors included both Irish and French. Some of her French ancestors included the original Acadians who settled in southwest Louisiana after being forced from present day Nova Scotia by the British. Grace survived serious bouts of rheumatic fever and malaria in her childhood. She graduated from St. Edmund's High School in Eunice, La., in 1944. After a year of nursing school, she worked for several years as a practical nurse in Eunice, La. Grace married Ixon "Frenchy" Fontenot in March 1948. She and Frenchy spent only a year in Louisiana before he returned to the US Army in March of 1949. Together they spent more than two decades in the Army having and raising children in Japan, France, Germany, Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama and Kansas. All of her children were born in Army Hospitals, two in Japan, one at Fort Monroe, Va., and the youngest at Fort Rucker, Ala. Grace often raised her children alone, while Frenchy served remote and/or combat tours in the Belgian Congo, Korea and Vietnam. Life in the Army was an adventure in many ways. The family lived for a time among the World War II coastal fortifications on the Bay of Biscay near La Rochelle, France. She maintained emergency rations and clothing in the event she had to evacuate with her children from Germany at the height of the Berlin Crisis. They traveled throughout the United States, Spain, France, Belgium, Monaco, Italy, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Holland and Sweden with their children in tow. After Frenchy retired, he and Grace settled in Hurst where Frenchy worked for the U.S. Postal Service and she saw her last two children off to college and worked for Montgomery-Ward rising up to department manager. Grace and Frenchy strived to educate their children and were extraordinarily proud that they earned numerous degrees. She and Frenchy were stalwart members of St. John The Apostle Catholic Church in North Richland Hills. Grace continued their volunteer work after Frenchy's death in 1995 working with the Catholic Daughters, Parish Bereavement and the Financial Committee and was involved in many other church activities until she moved to Lansing, Kan., in 2006. In Lansing, she continued to volunteer sewing receiving blankets, making skull caps for cancer victims and children's quilts for the Council on Aging and as an active member of St Joseph's Parish of Leavenworth. She took great pride in being named volunteer of the year for 2010 by the Council on Aging. She enjoyed also winning a first prize for embroidery for her work on the Grand Champion Quilt at the Leavenworth, Kan., County Fair. She was devoted to God, her family and to serving others. Grace was preceded in death by her parents; Frenchy; and her brothers, Herbert and Gil. Survivors: She is survived by her children, retired U.S. Army Col. Gregory (Dana), retired U.S. Air Force Col. Warren (Patricia) of Lansing, Kan., Kathleen Wilson (James), managing director, Oppenheimer & Co of N.Y., N.Y., and Timothy (Valerie), certified public accountant, Tax Editorial Thomson Reuters of North Richland Hills. Grace leaves behind six grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Grace Fontenot please visit our Sympathy Store.