Frances Eleanor Dennis' Obituary
Frances Eleanor Sitter Ernst Dennis entered into Heaven shortly after midnight on Friday, May 27th, 2022. She was born two months early at home on September 29, 1925, in the small Texas panhandle town of McLean, Texas, on the famous Route 66. To keep her warm, her tiny body was snugly wrapped in blankets and placed in a shoebox on the door of the oven. The family doctor stopped by and commented, “Don’t expect to keep her.” Her paternal grandmother, a strong Christian, rebuffed that comment and proceeded to feed and care for her. She went on to live over 96 years, longer than anyone else on her family tree.
Her love of music and her gift of singing led her to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in voice from Oklahoma University. After graduation she met and married Karl Ernst, the new freshly-minted pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Mc Lean in October of 1947. They added to their family three daughters. Her happily-ever-after life with Karl took them from McLean to North Dakota for a short season and then back to Texas in 1950 where he pastored the first Presbyterian Church in Dumas. In June of 1960 they moved to Richardson, Texas, where he pastored the First Presbyterian Church until his untimely death in 1966. Losing Karl was the biggest challenge of her life but she found happiness again two years later with marriage to Richard Dennis and they enjoyed 44 years together until his death in 2013.
She provided her family a loving, beautiful and comfortable home. In her they found an open heart and listening ear. She was ready to help her daughters with moving, in decorating their homes, and by providing practical help when each of her nine grandbabies arrived. She hosted most of the family holiday gatherings, creating beautifully set tables and delicious meals. She was her daughters’ greatest cheerleader and proudly introduced them to everyone she knew where she lived. She was very interested in the lives of her nine grandchildren and her 24 great grandchildren. She enjoyed lifelong friendships with some special ladies of First Presbyterian Church, a group affectionally known as El’s Belles. She took up painting in her 50‘s and her works grace many homes in her family.
Her goal in the last decade of her life was to maintain a good attitude, always to be grateful, to focus on her blessings, not on what she didn’t have, and never to indulge in self-pity. Consequently, she was a joy to care for and was well-loved by those who oversaw her daily needs wherever she lived as she lost her independence. We are so very grateful to each one, and especially to Teresa’s House of Craig’s Ranch in McKinney where she spent the last 14 months of her life and Amity Hospice. Her eternal destination was secured while living at Grace Presbyterian Village after reading Prison to Praise by Merlin Carothers.
She is survived by her three daughters Johanna Ernst Runnels, Kathy Ernst Laymon, Heidi Ernst Fergason, sons-in-law Charles Fergason and Richard Laymon, step-daughter Ellen Dennis and her husband Chuck Avery, grandchildren Josh Runnels, Stephanie Runnels Wenk, Laura Laymon Martin, Jane Laymon Hutcheson, Mary Ann Laymon Eisenbarth, Mark Laymon, Ella Fergason MacDonald, LeeAnne Fergason, and Karl Ernst Fergason, 24 great grandchildren and nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents Evan and Leona Sitter, her siblings Dorothy Sitter Foster and Spencer Sitter, her husband Karl Ernst and second husband Richard Dennis, her step-daughter Emily Dennis, her son-in-law Neville Runnels, and a number of grandchildren and greatgrandchildren due to early miscarriage.
In lieu of flowers, a donation to the foster homes for children in China who were abandoned due to health or financial issues would be a blessing. Kathy Ernst Laymon’s son-in-law is the doctor who oversees the care for these precious little ones. https://newhope.foundation.
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