Funeral services for Ollie Frances Brawley, 96, West Plains, Missouri, will be held at 2:00 p.m., Friday, June 14, 2024, in the Rose Chapel at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.
Mrs. Brawley passed away Monday, June 10, 2024, at Ozarks Medical Center.
She was born May 4, 1928, at Greer, Missouri, to Rosie and William Friend. Frances grew up on the Eleven Point River and attended Surprise School. The family moved to Alton, Missouri, when she was ten years old. Frances had her first job at the age of thirteen, doing laundry for people and cooking chicken for the sale barn and in her teens she worked at Forster’s Café. At the age of sixteen she went to St. Louis and worked for the summer, returning home for school in the Fall. On September 29, 1947, she was married at Salem, Arkansas, to Waymon Elmo Brawley, who preceded her in death on November 5, 2010. The couple moved to St. Louis and later Rockford, Illinois where she worked at Forest City Knitting Company and Nelson Knitting. She had her sons and worked at Amerock Hardware Company, made the family’s clothes and many quilts. In 1977 the family moved to West Plains and established their family farm. She worked for West Gibson Department Store and was later the manager at Taco Hut where she worked until she retired at the age of sixty-two. The couple enjoyed traveling, especially to Texas, Washington, Oklahoma and New Mexico. They had a great life together.
She is survived by two sons, Carl Brawley and wife, Teresa and Wayne Brawley and wife, Regina, all of West Plains; four grandchildren, Brandy Russell and husband, Trey Cherry, West Plains, Justin Brawley and wife, Tabitha, Cotton Town, Tennessee, Desiree Theibeault and husband, Skyler, West Plains and Amber Brawley, West Plains; six great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
Her parents, husband, one brother, John Henry Friend and eight sisters, Ellen Schlouch, Mollie Johnson, Vivian Medley, Amy Mann, Mae Brown, Mamie Patterson, Nellie Hoover and Dicie Doty, preceded her in death.
Visitation services will be held from 1:00 until 2:00 p.m., Friday, at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home. Burial will be in Bailey Cemetery, Alton, Missouri. Memorial contributions may be made to Bailey Cemetery and may be left at or mailed to Robertson-Drago Funeral Home, 211 West Main, West Plains, MO 65775.
