FRANCES M. SOUTHWELL
ROCKLAND – Frances M. Valine Herrick Wegner Southwell, 84, longtime Rockland resident, passed away on Monday, June 12, 2000, at Pocatello Regional Medical Center of congestive heart failure.

She was born May 12, 1916, three miles south of Kimberly, Idaho, the daughter of John and Rhobie Lucinda Calkin Valine. She was raised and educated in the Kimberly area.

She began her adult life in Twin Falls, where she married William Lester Herrick in 1936. They had two daughters born to them: Mona Helen (Kenneth) Russell of Brigham City, Utah, and Mary Loraine (Don) Allen of Malad, Idaho. Bill was killed in an automobile accident in 1940. She then married Fred John Wegner on January 8, 1942, in Twin Falls. To this marriage was born a daughter, Esther Carol (Donald) Neifer of San Antonio, Texas, and two sons: Frances Fred (deceased), and (Cora) Wegner and Stephen Eugene (Robin) Wegner, all of Rockland. Fred J. Wegner died of coronary occlusion in 1984. She then married a longtime acquaintance, Arthur James Southwell in 1984. From this marriage she gained her stepdaughter, Donna Dean (Merrill) Walker of Rockland. Mr. Southwell passed away in 1989.

Frances was baptized into the Pentecostal Church as a young girl, and after moving to Rockland in 1955, she began attending the Rockland Congregational Church, where she had actively attended and participated in teaching adult Sunday school for seven years, was president of the Ladies Aid, a deaconess, and in other duties as called upon.

Through the years she had worked for Woolworth’s Department Store, telephone operator, bus driver during World War II, and as a farm- and housewife most of her life. She loved to visit with everyone, and drove her last trip two blocks away from home to the café in Rockland in December 1999.

She crocheted numerous afghans for family and friends. She loved to sing and had sung on many occasions through the years.

She is survived by children and stepdaughter as mentioned above; 18 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, husbands, a son F. Fred in 1990, and one granddaughter, Darlene Beryl Wegner.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, June 15, 2000 at 1 p.m. in the Rockland Congregational Church. Friends may call at the church this evening, June 14, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and on Thursday from 11:30 a.m. until service time. Burial will be in the Valley View Cemetery in Rockland. Arrangements by Horsley Funeral Home, Malad.

The family suggests donations to the Rockland Congregational Church.