Emma Frances Harris

Visitation will be held Monday, October 24, 2016 from 5-7 PM, at Riley Funeral Home. Service will be held Tuesday, October 25, 2016, 2 PM at Riley Funeral Chapel followed by interment at Oakwood Cemetery.

Frances was born September 10, 1919 in Scott Hill, Wilbarger County to Clara and Thomas Howard Seay. She graduated from Harrold High School in Harrold, Texas in 1937.

Frances married her brother’s best friend, Bomer Britton Harris on November 20, 1940. Their first daughter, Janice was born in Claredon, Texas. Bomer and Frances subsequently moved to Quanah, Texas where they had two more daughters, Kay and Joyce. They lived there until 1961, when they moved to Hamilton, Texas.

Frances was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Her ambition as a young woman was to be a good wife and mother and to create a loving home. Frances’ two passions in life were her family and her love of the Lord. She loved being a mother and made her children her priority. Raising them to have the same sense of family importance and raised them in a Christian home.

In addition, she served God and her community in many ways. Her strong faith in the Lord was rooted in love and service. She was a respected friend to many in her church and community. Her home was always a gathering place of celebratory events for her family and her multitude of friends, with a plethora of good food offered.

Frances gave her life to the Lord as a young girl and walked with the Lord for her entire life. She was definitely an example of the biblical description of a Godly woman as described in Proverbs 31:10-31.

She loved life, people, and helped to create wonderful memories, on which she loved to reflect. In return she was loved by many. One of her favorite stories was when Seth Moore, Tom Joseph, and Tommy Joseph went fishing and came back with a load of catfish. She cooked nothing but the catfish and all four of the men ate until they couldn’t eat anymore.

Most of the food in the household was canned or “put up” in the summer time for enjoyment during the winter. Once Frances, Bomer, and the girls put up 700 ears of corn in one night. Frances was a hard worker and instilled the attribute into her children. She even helped her husband to plow the fields and farm the land in Wilbarger County, where the land still bares their name (that was their Saturday job as they were all in church on Sunday). Frances was the only woman to enter and win a steeplechase tractor driving contest while living in Quanah.

Frances’s father died from pneumonia when she was only 1 month old. Being the youngest of 3 children, she was left to stay home alone at the age of 5 during the day while her mother went to work to provide for them. Frances said during this time, she prayed a lot and played a lot to pass the time away. God truly was watching over her.

During high school, Frances learned the art of sewing and was well known in the community as an extraordinary accomplished seamstress. She made all of the family clothes, including formal gowns and wedding dresses.

Frances was a guiding light for others to come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. She lived her own life and guided her children in accordance with those same guidelines as she herself walked each day with the Lord.

Mom was strict but never judgmental and she remained patient; a constant example for all of us. When something was wrong, she knew and even though we may not have discussed the problem, she was always there.

Later in life, Frances’ mother came to live with her and Bomer. Her care for her family was unmitigated. Her dedicated care of both her husband during his illness and her mother (who died at the age of 105), was yet another example of God in her heart.

Frances was a person of grace, intelligence, strong character, and full of integrity and she touched many lives in her own gentle way. She was truly a lady graced with a natural elegance and class. So many times, she was the rock that the family leaned upon. The world without her is surely going to be emptier now. She will be sorely missed but warmly remembered by her family and friends.

Frances leaves behind a loving family so very grateful for her love, her faith, and her support. Time will never erase the precious memories and the enduring love she left in the minds and hearts of those lucky enough to have known her-especially her daughters.

Frances was also preceded in death by her beloved husband; sister, Imogene; and brother, Thomas.

Surviving Frances are her daughters, Janice Bidigare and husband, Richard of Hamilton, MI, Kay Christiansen and husband, Chris of Hurst, TX, and Joyce Villarreal and husband, George of San Antonio, TX; 8 grandchildren; 17 grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

The family wishes to express a last farewell with enormous gratitude to Patricia Hopper for her devotion and loving care of both Frances and Bomer for nearly 20 years. She enriched their lives as she cared for them. She is truly a person of great love and integrity. Patricia and her husband, Habert; brother-in-law, Michael; their son, Heath; and daughter-in-law, Chrissy, have all been a tremendous blessing to our family.

We also want to thank the staff at Dove Hill Nursing Home and to CCS Hospice for the superb care she received during her final years.

The family wishes in lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to CCS Hospice, 118 E. Live Oak, Ste. 104, Dublin, TX 76446 or Alzheimer Association, 4144 N. Central Expressway, Ste. 750, Dallas, TX 75204 or the charity of your choice.

“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest is love.”

As for her daughters, we Praise the Lord for giving us such a loving, Christian mother. May her love shine in heaven for eternity. Take care of her Lord, until we see her again.