Speck Funeral Home - Frances Mae Gillentine

Mrs. Frances Gillentine departed this life on September 28, 2023, from the Overton County Heatlh and Rehab Center.  Born May 1, 1944 at Genoa, Nebraska, she was the second child and oldest daughter of Melvin Soren and Estella Fern Sanford Rasmussen.

In 1947 her family moved to Belgrade, Nebraska where she attended school and graduated from high school in 3 1/2 years, immediately thereafter enrolling at Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa.  She was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran faith and active in Luther League activities during high school.  Pursuing a Baccalaureate of Arts degree with a major in Nursing Education she spent three years at Finley Hospital School of Nursing in Dubuque, Iowa, returning to Wartburg College and graduating in 1967.

Moving to Madison, Wisconsin she was employed as a Registered Nurse at Madison General Hospital for nearly two years before entering the United States Air Force and receiving her requested assignment to Wright-Patterson AFB at Dayton, Ohio in January 1969.  Her following assignments were to Brooks AFB, Texas for Flight School, to Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage, Alaska where she flew Aero-medical Evacuation flights as a Flight Nurse and Flight Nurse Instructor during the Vietnam era and to 10th AEG at Hickam AFB, Honolulu, Hawaii.  In these short couple of years before leaving the Air Force she was promoted to the rank of Captain.  

She was married in April of 1973, in Honolulu, Hawaii to David L. Gillentine, an Army Sergeant, and both of her children were born in Honolulu.  Frances taught Practical Nursing at the Waynesville Area Vocational Technical School in Waynesville, Missouri for four years before her family moved to Leavenworth, Kansas.   She received a Masters of Education degree in Secondary Administration from Drury College, Springfield, Missouri, in 1982.  Beginning in the mid 1980s she was employed for the next eight years as a Practical Nurse instructor as the Vocational School in Kansas City, Kansas.

During the 1980s-early 1990s she was active in the state and national vocational organizations, serving as an officer at both levels.  She also participated as an item writer for Practical Nursing licensure exams at the National League for Nursing office in New York City while teaching in Missouri.  

The last 19 years of her 42 years of nursing were at Providence Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas where she worked night shift primarily in the newborn nursery.  

She retired in 2009 and moved to Monroe, TN, where she was a volunteer at the Overton County Archives, a member of the Historical Society, the American Legion Bohannon Post #4 and the Military Honor Guard.

Her interests have included quilting, traveling, photography, scrapbooking, country and bluegrass music, visiting zoos, seven trips to Europe since her children have grown, and spending time at the Monroe Community Center.  In Kansas she was a volunteer for the ALS Association and an avid baseball fan.

She was preceded in death by her parents, sisters Wilma Loughman, Myrna Greek, and Cathleen Krings, three brothers-in-law, and one sister-in-law.  She leaves a daughter Ann Gillentine of Nebraska, a son Jason Gillentine of Monroe, former husband David Gillentine, a brother Ralph Rasmussen of Fort Collins, Colorado, sisters Joyce Rasmussen of Winchester, Kentucky, Brenda Fader of Northport, Alabama, and fifteen nieces and nephews.

Frances chose cremation and the ashes are to be interred in the military garden at Swan Lake Memorial Gardens, Grain Valley, Missouri.

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