A longtime Fort Morgan resident, Viola moved to Rangely, Colo., in the late 1990s and then to Brush, Colo., in 2009.
She was born to Frank and Jesse Timmons on Dec. 28, 1925. She grew up on a farm nine miles south of Fort Morgan. She married Kenneth Claud (K.C.) Henson in 1943, while he was home on furlough from the United States Army.
Until his return from the war, Frances worked as a telephone operator for Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph. On his return, they started a trucking company, and she handled the books. Subsequent occupations included driving a school bus, teaching piano and accordion, preparing taxes and selling real estate.
She earned her associate’s degree in accounting from Morgan County Community College in 1990 at age 65. She had a lifelong love of poetry and had several of her own poems published.
Viola is survived by: daughters Claudia, Janice, Marilyn and Ruth; sons Alan and Wayne; sister Sonya; brother Darrell; 24 grandchildren; 48 great-grandchildren; and four great-great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by: her daughter, Hazel; son Steve; sisters Lela, Ruth, Vivian, Zaidee, Phyllis and Eleanor (Tyke); her brother Ben; and former husband, Kenneth.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 23, 2015, at All Saints Church, Eben Ezer Lutheran Care Center in Brush.
A memorial service in Rangely, Colo., is also being planned by family and some of Viola’s fellow Jehovah’s Witnesses, with the date and time to be determined.
