Frances Arlene Dickey White

Frances Arlene Dickey White, daughter of Millard and Grace Dickey, passed away on Tuesday March 26, 2013. She was the third of four children. Her siblings were older brother Kenneth , older sister Anna Lois, and younger sister, Rose Marie . She was born in Silver Lake, Indiana near Manchester in 1926. She was very musical, loved to sing, and was happy to play the clarinet, then French horn in the school band. After graduation she married a farmer/engineer, Dale Schenk, also from Indiana. They had two sons, Philip and Elmer. Dale became employed with an aerospace company so they brought their two boys to Grand Prairie, Texas, where the boys would later graduate. Dale and Frances were divorced in 1959 and Frances became a single working mother to two growing boys. She made every effort to see that the boys were musically trained, and every week she carted them across Dallas to their music lessons while continuing to work as a bookkeeper. Anyone who knows Phil or Elmer will attest that she did a fantastic job. In 1968, she married Ray Hinkle, and together, they ran a successful machine shop, first in Farmer's Branch, and later in Wilmer, Texas. Frances and Ray enjoyed riding horses, and they bought a rural spread on the outskirts of Lancaster with a swimming pool out back. One day Ray hitched up the horses, and one of the horses went for a drink and stepped off into the swimming pool with the wagon still attached. Ray jumped in to hold the horse's head above water until Frances could get help. She always said "It wasn't funny at the time, but I can laugh about it now". Together, they enjoyed cooking breakfast, singing hymns, having ice cream and eating out, especially Mexican Food. Ray passed away in 1979. After Ray's death, Frances owned several homes in Lancaster Texas and attended the First Baptist Church where she met Doc White. They were married in the early 1980's. They had a lovely six years together until Doc was overtaken by cancer and passed on. After Doc's passing, Frances stayed busy bookkeeping for various businesses and was an active member of the Business and Professional Women's Organization of Lancaster, serving as President in 1987. These ladies organized a fun trip together, a Cruise to Hawaii on Royal Caribbean's" Legend of the Seas" where Frances thoroughly enjoyed herself. In her 70's after she retired from working, she moved to Lake Forest Good Samaritan and also spent some time living at Primrose, both Independent Living facilities in Denton, Texas. She lived at Cottonwood, another Independent living facility in Plano and here she celebrated her 80th birthday with her family in attendance. Her final days were spent at Autumn Leaves in Denton. Her hobbies included music and singing especially hymns, (she had a lovely voice) attending concerts, watching baseball, and football games, game shows and the News on TV. She also collected bells and, ceramic birds. She adored flowers and made photos of the flowers in her yard and had them framed. When she was younger, she was known to play a mean game of canasta and taught it to her boys. Her family will miss her whimsical personality and sense of fun. Frances is survived by sons Philip Schenk & his girlfriend Donna Smith, Elmer Schenk & his wife Anita; grandchildren Timothy, Thomas, and Anthony Schenk; great grandchildren Alex and Daphne Schenk; brother Kenneth Dickey; sister Rose Marie Miller.

Frances Arlene Dickey White

May 11, 1926 - March 26, 2013