Forestine E. Planchon McClure

I have lived a long life, full of God's blessings.

I was born in OK in 1923, moved to MO and then to CA. After marrying and having 2 daughters, Vicky and Lee Ann, our family moved to Wichita, KS in the 50s. We bought our first house on the edge of town at Central and Woodlawn, and joined our neighborhood church, Old Manor Baptist. My husband and I started our family business, Wichita Burner Company, in 1956 and I worked as his Office Manager. At home, I was a Scout Leader for my girls and volunteered as a Room Mother and Block Mother of the neighborhood. I taught Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, Women's Prayer Groups and served on various church committees. In general, I volunteered for anything that needed to be done in our church.

During the 60s and 70s the girls graduated from high school, attended college, married and had families of their own. They gave us 4 beautiful granddaughters. During that time, we moved farther east and I changed my membership to our neighborhood church, First Bible Baptist. In my spare time, I decided to take up painting and found that I enjoyed working with watercolors. I attended art workshops, studying with some well-known artists, and I had the opportunity to travel to China and Paris with my artist friends. l have shown many of my paintings and sold a few, but mostly have given them to family and friends to enjoy.

During the 80s my husband and I retired and sold our business. We had taken up playing golf, so when we decided to move again, we bought a house on a golf course. That way, we reasoned, we could play golf whenever we wanted. Moving further east, I changed my membership to our neighborhood church, Messiah Baptist. My husband and I enjoyed entertaining and traveling with our friends and were fortunate to see many parts of the country through the 90s and early 2000s. During that time, our beautiful granddaughters presented us with five handsome great grandsons.

Entering the 21st century, life was good and we were truly blessed. Unfortunately, I lost my husband in 2005. My family helped me and I sold my house and moved, with my cat, Tiger, into a condominium next to my daughter. During this time, God led Pastor Riffee to form Crossroads Baptist, and I felt that God was leading me to follow. I changed my church membership and, although I am unable to volunteer and help like I did in the past, no one could be more proud of our church.

My faith has helped me through these many years and will for the years to come. I have lived a long life, full of God's blessings.

This eulogy was given by Rene' White at her Grandmother Frosty's funeral on November 8, 2014:

How do you summarize in a few minutes what someone who’s been a part of your life for almost 50 years means to you? I lost my other grandma when I was around 12 years old, so Grandma Frosty has been my only grandmother for many years.

As I thought this week about her life and who she was, I realized I had no idea how she came to be called Frosty. I was told that nickname was given to her by the kids in her grade school, and it stuck with her through her entire life. It was that name that was often an icebreaker when she met new people—they would comment on what an interesting name it was—and it’s that name that graces the beautiful paintings she created as she became a skilled watercolor artist over the years. And it goes without saying that it was always easy to find decorations with her name on them at Christmas time.

Grandma Frosty was always the matriarch of our family…she was the tie that held us all together. She loved having family celebrations at her home, even though she didn’t really like to cook, and we could always count on being served one of the limited number of dishes in her “family meal” repertoire….ham, pot roast, or lasagna. She could sure make a mean lemon cake, though.

I won’t bore you with long stories about my memories of her but there is one special memory that I have to mention, and that’s of the time just she and I drove together to the house in Missouri for a weekend getaway the year before my son was born. During the five-hour drive in the car each way, she told me story after story about her life. She didn’t have the easiest childhood but it helped make her the fun, loving, caring person she was to us and all that knew her. I so wish I had recorded those stories and often thought later that I should have at least asked her to write them down….but of course that was always something I was going to get to one day.

One of the last special memories I have of grandma is the afternoon I spent with her a few weeks ago, just before she got sick. We ate lunch together in the dining room at Regent Park, and then she wanted me to take her shopping to buy new underwear. Of course, one shopaholic should never be responsible for keeping another one from spending money so she also ended up with four new sweaters and a scarf by the time we walked out of the store.

Finally, I’ve been thinking about what grandma would want us to do right now. She wouldn’t want us to be sad because she’s gone. She’d want us to be happy and celebrate the fact that she’s finally in the place she’s wanted to be for so many years.

This eulogy was given by Lori Timmermeyer at her Grandmother Frosty's funeral on November 8, 2014:

A grandmother is one of life’s best gifts and Grandma Frosty was a gift and so much more.

It never occurred to me that one day I would be up here talking about her and she would be in Heaven. It was naïve of me to think she was invincible and would be around forever, but her energy gave us that false sense of hope. I know we are luckier than most to have a grandma in our life for so long. Not many families can have four generations together. I was also very lucky to have spent the last week by Grandma Frosty’s side. I got to hug and kiss her and share how much I loved her. Those are memories that will forever be treasures in my heart.

As we say our farewells today, I just wanted to give you a few memories that have always reminded me of grandma Frosty.

• Peanut butter and Kayro syrup on white bread, best dessert ever!

• Family dinners where the adults sat at one table and the kids at the “loner table” got to move up to adult table once you were married

• Grandma Frosty rubbing my back and playing with my hair on the white leather couch

• How much fun it was to hide rubber snakes for her to find

• She made me coconut cream pie, even though her lemon meringue was my favorite, but I never dared to say a word

• Never finishing a cup of coffee that didn’t have to be warmed in the microwave at least 5 times

• The best memory of Grandma Frosty was waking up in Rocky Comfort MO, early morning, to a quite house that smelled of coffee and seeing Grandma at the table working her crossword puzzle for the day

“When someone you love becomes a memory… that memory becomes a treasure”

See you later Grandma Frosty, I love you!

A passage given to Lee Ann at her Mother's death:

"Your Mother is always with you. She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street. She's the smell of certain foods you remember, flowers you pick, the fragrance of life itself. She's the cool hand on your brow when you're not feeling well. She's your breath in the air on a cold winter's day. She's the sound of the rain that lulls you to sleep, the colors of the rainbow, she is Christmas morning. Your Mother lives inside your laughter. She's the place you came from, your first home, and she's the map you follow with every step you take. She's your first love, your first friend, even your first enemy, but nothing on earth can separate you, not time, not space......not even death." Author Unknown