Three sisters unite at Parkside
Editor's note: One of the sisters in this story, Irene Frantz, passed away last week. The story was written before she died, we're running it as it was originally written.
Staff writer
What are the odds that three sisters growing up together will marry two brothers and a cousin with the same last name? Very slim.
But what is even more amazing is that these three sisters, after going through their own life journeys, are now living together again at Parkside Homes in Hillsboro.
That's right. Martha Frantz, Ida Frantz, and Irene Frantz are sisters who all live at Parkside Homes.
Martha, 89, the oldest of the three, lives in the A wing; Ida, 86, lives in C; and Irene, 79, lives in B.
Martha and Ida told their stories and part of their sister Irene's story. Because Irene is somewhat incapacitated due to recent brain surgery, part of her story was also shared by her daughter, Sherry (Frantz) Cole of Phillipsburg.
Martha, Ida, and Irene's maiden name was Senner, a German name — Martha and Ida said emphatically.
Martha and Ida had the same mother, who died when they were five and two and half years old respectively. Their father remarried three years later and had four other children with his second wife. Irene was the oldest of that clan.
The family was raised on a farm in the Pilsen area. Their father's mother lived with them, so the girls didn't do much cooking. Instead, they did the chores on the farm.
Martha attended the area country school from grades one through eight only. She decided not to go to high school and stayed at home helping with chores.
"I regret that I didn't go to high school," she said. "But I stayed home and helped around the farm, milking the cows and cleaning out the chicken coop."
Ida went on to high school and graduated from Lincolnville High School.
Irene went to the same country school and had some high school education, but did not graduate, according to Sherry.
Martha was the first to get married and she married Eldo Frantz, the oldest of the Frantz brothers.
"The two oldest of the families married each other," Ida said, smiling.
Martha and husband Eldo had eight children — five girls, Joyce, Lois, Betty, Juanita, and Judy, and three boys, Tom, Jimmy, and Dean. The family lived in Durham, and Martha stayed home to raise the children while her husband ran a grocery store in Durham. He later sold Watkins products for several years.
Ida married Eldo's brother Abe, and the couple lived on a farm in Durham. They had four boys: Gary, Vernon, Lauren, and Mike. Gary died when he was 60.
"My husband was so proud of having a son, he couldn't wear his hat," Ida said.
"We had so many girls in the family that they were glad for a son finally," Martha interjected.
After 29 years of marriage, Abe died, leaving Ida alone to raise their four boys.
"My boys were wonderful and good boys, and for that I am grateful," Ida said.
Irene married the cousin of Martha and Ida's husbands, John Frantz in 1941.
They lived on a farm in the Tampa area until Irene's husband went to serve in the Mennonite camp in Oregon and Wisconsin. He served there for two years.
While in Wisconsin, Irene took some nursing courses and worked at a mental institution there. She was able to dispense medication and give shots.
According to Sherry, lots of Mennonite couples worked at the camp in Wisconsin.
After serving his term, the couple moved back to another farm in the Tampa area. In 1948, their first child, Sherry, was born.
Irene stayed at home and help with the farm. The family moved to Hillsboro, after they quit farming.
"Family was important to us," Sherry said. "As a family we would spend time together after church. We'd visit each other, or we'd help wallpaper — just doing things together as a family when we lived on the farm."
In 1959, Irene started working as a certified medication aide at then Salem Hospital, and she also worked at St. Luke Hospital in Marion.
In 1963, the couple had their second child, Terry.
She later went to work at Parkside Homes for 11 years as a CMA and retired in the mid-1980's.
Irene's husband John became a custodian for the USD 410 school system in 1961 and worked there for 29 years. After retiring from the school, he became the custodian at the post office in Hillsboro until his death.
After her husband's death on Oct. 15, 1998, Irene lived by herself for three years.
"It really changed Mom," Sherry said. "They had done so many things together."
Because family was important to Irene, Sherry said, "The telephone was a life-line for my mother. Mom would call family and friends various times of the day."
At the first of August of this year, Sherry said she began to notice that something was wrong with her mother,
"She was not herself," Sherry said. "She was forgetting things. That change was so sudden."
Sherry made arrangements to move Irene to Parkside Homes in August of 2002.
After evaluations from specialists, it was determined that Irene had a brain tumor. She went for surgery on Aug. 29, 2002. The effects of the surgery and part of the remaining tumor have left Irene with some loss of memory, speech, and hearing.
Now, all three sisters have settled in at Parkside Homes.
Ida moved to Parkside Homes first in October of 1999 but later moved to Birchwood Apartments in Hillsboro.
"The place was nice, but I wanted to see people," she said. "I'm a people person, and I was getting lonely living there at the apartments."
So Ida moved back to Parkside in May of 2002. Martha moved to Parkside in June of 2001.
The sisters like to visit with each other and talk of their life growing up together.
Irene is no longer able to visit with her sisters as much as before, but Martha and Ida still go to her room and talk to her.
Sherry said that her mother used to be a "spunky person."
Her favorite song was "One Day at a Time."
Ida, who is the most outspoken of the two sisters, says that Martha is the quiet one. Ida is known around the home for a phrase she often says: "Kid,s let me tell ya' something."
Both ladies enjoy living at the home and like the staff and the people there.
Although the sisters range in age from 79 to 89, longevity does not necessarily run in their immediate family.
"Our family members did not live long," said Martha. "Our father died young at 60. But we're still here."
Martha summed it up well when she said that they are in their latter years and they are spending the rest of their years at Parkside.
