Gerald and Frances Stallman -King

Monday, March 14, 2011

Frances and Gerald  06 July,  1960	Fran, Greek Isles, 1984

One child, Vicki

Frances Ann Stallman was born July 27, 1939, at Chamberlain, Brule County to Albert and Ann and was baptized Aug 14 1939, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Reliance. I  had a bout with rheumatic fever when I was three years old which left me with a weakened heart. I grew up at Reliance, attended North Cooper School, two miles east of the farm, as did my father before me. Then I attended Reliance Consolidated School after the family moved into town.

In the summer of 1955, my sister Barbara and I took a bus to Utah to be with our mother. I soon realized that if I was to graduate I would have to return home and enroll back in school. I was very dedicated to getting my education and supported myself during the school year by riding to Chamberlain after school with a teacher, Darrell Cadwell; work at the Rainbow Cafe for Babe and Irene Cullen, then catch the bus back at night, or stay overnight with the Cullens and ride back to school in the morning with Mr. Cadwell. I graduated from RHS with  the class of 1957.

After graduating high school, I eventually ended up in Farmington, New Mexico with Mama and Fuzz in 1958. I met my husband, Gerald, the first week I arrived there. He joined the Army in 1959. I was working for the Farmington Police Department as secretary to the Detective Division. He proposed the spring of 1960, and we married at his parent's home in Seminole, Oklahoma, July 6th, 1960. Gerald was born Oct. 22, 1936, at Chandler, Lincoln County, Okla. to Herman Elvis and Fannie Lois King. He was stationed at a Nike Hercules missal sight in Gary, Indiana. We had great experiences in the military.  During this time, our neighbor was killed in a head-on collision one mile east of  Reliance. The other person killed in the car crash was our Uncle Ray Stallman.

We had one child, Vicki Lyn, born August 16, 1962, in Price, Utah. Gerald was discharged from the Army and we moved to Oklahoma City when Vicki was only a few weeks old.

Gerald was a welder on the natural gas pipelines crossing the U.S. We traveled most of �the lower 48� from 1965-1970. Vicki and I returned to Oklahoma City and Gerald continued on with the pipeline. I became employed as an apartment manager in 1972, and we divorced in 1977.

In 1973, I went to work for a man named Mike Schuminsky and opened a new 244 unit complex. Our operation was much like a long-stay hotel, renting only to FAA students attending the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Academy in Oklahoma City. Our tenants were FAA students world-wide. It was a wonderful job and I loved it. I worked at that location until August 1988.

In 1988, I moved to Guam and managed 400+ apartments, condominiums, and commercial real estate. Relocating was a wrong personal choice, however, I loved the Island life and traveled all of Micronesia, Asia, Indonesia and Malaysia while living there. During the 80�s while employed at Railhead, I also had the privilege to travel extensively. I made many friends from many places attending the academy. I visited friends on several Caribbean Islands and all across the U.S. . Vicki and I traveled most of Europe when she graduated high school, and later took a Greek Isle cruise including Istanbul and Ephesus Turkey. Vicki made about four trips to Guam. After her last trip with her husband and two daughters, December 1998, I made the decision to return to �the mainland�.

January, 1999, I contacted my old boss, Mike Schuminsky, and asked him to find employment for me, that I needed to sell land and a condominium and would be ready to relocate by the fall. Three weeks later, he had me in Tiburon, California, managing his hotel, the "Tiburon Lodge". I balked, but was there by the end of the month. I managed the Lodge at Tiburon for five years. He sold the lodge in May, 2004 and built me a beautiful home in a suburb of OKC.

I am retired now, living virtually in my daughters back yard. She and John had another daughter February 2006 ... guess what I do � My ex-husband, Gerald, lives here in OKC as well and we have remained good friends and see each other often.

I weigh too much, but other than that, I am healthy. I do not take, or need, any medication. I have two new knees. Life is GRRRRRRREAT !  

You can keep up with my antics with my blogs at   www.taotao-belowthefold.blogspot.com    

Frances was always my hero. She was my big sister and tended to look after me once I too, returned from my stay with our mother. We looked like twins and referred to each other as our "twin." She worked at the Rainbow Cafe on Chamberlain's east side of Main Street and I worked at the Silver Leaf on the west side. She seemed to be one of those people who always came out on top. "Had the touch," if you will. Proof positive that you can be anything you want to be and do anything you want to do. A survivor of four or six heart attacks, I have lost count. She hasn't had one now in probably 25 years. She'll make it!  barbara

1939	1952/'53?	1953/'54	1954/'55	1955	1956/'57
Freshman initiation garb	Barbara, Grandma Black, Frances   ca 1954		ca 1956		Graduation	Grandma Black

Katy, Grandma Stallman, Ann, Albert. MaryAnn, Maxine, Frances,  Barbara  1942	Frances, Barbara, Pegge, Sandy, Eddie, Kelly, Karel ca 1964	MW, Pegge, Ed, Barbara, Frances, Gerald ca  1962

Me and Mama going out to eat
	Me and Vicki in front of President Harry  Truman home, KC, KS	Sandy, Pegge, Barbara, Frances. Seated, Ann   ca 2005 Farmington, NM

Vicki Lynn King/Suhre/Martin

Vicki Lynn was born Aug. 16, 1962 at Price, Carbon County, Utah. She grew up, somewhat, in Oklahoma City, Okla., following her parents on the natural gas pipeline across the US. She attended six different schools in as many states during her first grade. She graduated from Putnam City West High School, OKC with the Class of 1980. After graduation she traveled to several European countries with her mother.

Fran, Vicki and Britany, 1994 reunion, SD	Miss Vicki   Miss Rileigh Shea Martin	Britany Martin, graduation
Gerald Elvis King   Oct. 22, 1936-Aug. 02, 2009 A graveside funeral service for Gerald Elvis King, 72, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was held at the Chandler Cemetery August 9.          Mr. King passed away Sunday morning, August  2 at the VA Hospital in Oklahoma City, following a bout with cancer.         Gerald was born on Oct. 22, 1936 at Chandler, Lincoln County, Oklahoma, to Herman Elvis and Fannie Lois (Taylor) King.          After graduation from Farmington High School, Farmington, N.M. in 1955, he attended the University of Oklahoma for two years.  He returned to Farmington and was employed by El Paso Natural Gas Company until he enlisted into The United States Army in 1959.  He was transferred to a NIKE HERCULES MISSILE RANGE in Gary, Indiana.         July 6, 1960, he married Frances Stallman, formerly of Reliance, South Dakota  and Farmington  at his parent�s home in Seminole, Oklahoma.  Gerald and Fran were the parents of one child, Vicki Lyn King.          Gerald was honorably discharged from the Army in 1962, re-locating to Oklahoma City. He and Fran divorced in 1977.  They remained friends throughout Gerald's life.  She became his caregiver during the last three years of his life.          Gerald worked on cross country pipeline construction from 1965 through 1972 then returned to OKC to open and operate a Skelly Service Station on East Reno until 1978.  At this time he became a Real Estate Broker and owned and operated KING/MIZE Realtors until his retirement in 1997.         After retirement, Gerald dabbled in antique sales, and classic automobiles.  Both were a passion of his most of his adult life.         Grateful for sharing his life are his daughter, Vicki  and husband John Martin; three granddaughters, Brittany and husband Jeff Wells and Sara, Lauren, Rileigh Shea; ex-wife Fran King, all of Newcastle, OK., and one sister,  Janice Carol King-Holland of Chandler, OK.          He was preceded in death by his father, Herman Elvis King,  his mother, Fannie Lois King and one sister, Mary Louise Kiker.		Our "home" church St. Mary's Church in Reliance.