WINTER HAVEN - Frances Smith Bice was born Frances Melita Smith on June 7, 1928 to Leon and Alma Smith in the small central Florida town of Dundee. Her father died before she was a year old, and she grew to know her step-father, Frank Golden, as "Daddy". She was raised during the hard-scrabble years of the Great Depression as she worked with her sister and younger brothers to assist their mother in providing for the family and community by keeping the doors of "Frank's Grocery" open during those difficult years. Her step-father passed away in 1949, and the core of her family unit during her childhood was her mother Alma Golden, her older sister Elizabeth Smith, and her younger brothers Frank and Ray Golden. Throughout her life she would share memories with her children of growing up in Dundee and learning core American working values from her mother and grandparents. She particularly recalled the memory of "Granddaddy Hunt" as he would sit by the lamplight in his rocking chair in the stillness of the hot Florida nights as he would carve his fishing lures or clean his pipe with the folding pocket knife that always resided in the pocket of his overalls.
Just as her family and their traditional, hardworking values were a cornerstone of Frances’ lifelong values and identity, so was her Christian Faith. She became a member of the Dundee Baptist Temple as a little girl and remained so until after her marriage and move to Lake Wales.
During her secondary education years at Haines City High School she met and began a courtship with the man would become her life-long companion: William Thomas (Tom) Bice of Haines City. A 1946 graduate of Haines City High, they both were a part of "The Greatest Generation" and saw classmates just a few years older go to the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific, some never to return. Following high school graduation and a brief exposure to college life at the then-named Florida State College for Women, she followed a home-sick girl's heart and returned to Polk County; it would be her home for all of her life.
Fran and Tom Bice were married on September 22, 1950, and moved to their home just north of the Lake Wales city limits soon thereafter. Just as family and faith were the cornerstones of Frances’ youth, so they were in her adult life. She accepted, relished and thrived on her choice of three simultaneous careers: wife, mother and homemaker. In 1952 she gave birth to her first son, Bill. Steve was born in 1954 and Lorin came along in 1957. As their family was complete and Tom found his vocation as a citrus grower beginning to take root, in 1961 they built their family home under the oak trees and surrounded by cattle pastures. The home was complete with a master bedroom for the parents, two bedrooms for the three boys to share and a fourth bedroom for out-of-town guests. In December of 1962, the stork brought a permanent out-of-town guest. When our mother and father read John 10:10b all through the years, surely they imagined it was talking to them about their daughter Ruth.
Frances Bice did all the things a mother should do. She was involved in a social sorority in her early years in Lake Wales and met life-long friends; she was involved in the PTA, then the PTO; school volunteer, Sunday School teacher, scout mother, even a member of a Wednesday morning bowling league for a few years. She was the nutritionist, cook, maid, nurse, schedule keeper, fashion coordinator, transportation director and driver, disciplinarian, teacher of values, source of encouragement, and model of Christian love for a family of six.
She raised her family in the First Baptist Church of Lake Wales, and saw all of her children baptized in that church. It is a place and community of believers that always held a special place in her heart. As empty nesters, she and Tom moved their membership to the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Wales and were active members of that body until health issues dictated otherwise.
She was passionate and devoted to her calling. She was probably overprotective of teenagers and adult children as well; she is cherished for those traits.
She was preceded in death by her father Leon and step-father Frank, her brother Leon who died in early childhood, her mother Alma who suffered the ravages of Alzheimer’s, her brother Frank, and her sister Elizabeth.
She is survived by her husband of almost sixty years, Tom Bice and her four children: Bill (Darlene) Winter Haven, FL; Steve (Karen) Merritt Island, FL; Lorin, Winter Haven, FL; Ruth (Rob) Bearden,Madison, GA; Brother, Ray (Jean) Golden, Dundee, FL; Sisters-in Law: Doris (Ralph) Stalnaker, Haines City, FL, Judy (Ed) Winchester, Haines City Florida, Thirteen Grandchildren, one 18 month-old Great Granddaughter: Claire Abigail and many lifelong friends.
Frances Bice died at home in the early morning hours of December 1, 2009 from natural causes arising from Alzheimer's. She loved well and was well loved. For the last twenty years of her life she had two wishes that went wanting.
She wanted to see her mother.
She wanted her children to come home for dinner … and stay.
Today, in Paradise, she is with her mother, and her Master. No more Alzheimer's, no more arthritis, no more pain, no more sorrow.
One day, soon and very soon, she will gather her family at the wedding feast of the Lamb. We will all be home to stay.
Blessed be the Name of the Lord.
The family will receive friends from 5:00pm till 7:00pm, Thursday, December 3, 2009 at Oak Ridge Funeral Care, 2425 Havendale Boulevard, NW, Winter Haven. Funeral Services will be at 11:00am, Friday, December 4, 2009 at the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Wales, 16 North 3rd Street, Lake Wales, FL.
Interment will follow at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Winter Haven. Condolences may be sent at www.oakridgefuneralcare.com.
Memorial Donations may be made in her name to the Memorial Fund at the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Wales
or to Good Shepherd Hospice, 105 Arneson Avenue, Auburndale, FL 33823.
