Frances M. Vork; Longtime Oak View Resident

Frances Martha Vork, a homemaker, died Monday in Ojai Valley Community Hospital’s skilled nursing facility. She was 97.

She was born July 2, 1902, in Sandstone, Minn., where she grew up. When she was about 21, she moved to Wheeler Hot Springs with her husband, Harold.

Her husband was an outfitter, and she enjoyed riding horseback with him through the back country in Ojai. In 1926, the couple moved into a house in Oak View that he built on a hilltop above the Ventura River valley. Their children attended school in Oak View.

Frances Vork was active in the schools and was a lifetime member of the PTA. She was also a lifetime member of the Federated Oak View Women’s Club, and enjoyed making quilts and dolls for the club’s bazaars.

Vork had a beautiful garden and was a member of the First Baptist Church of Oak View, according to relatives. She was also an avid reader, hooked rugs and worked as a seamstress.

She and her husband were active in the Oak View Lions Club.

Vork is survived by sons Lester and James of Ojai; daughters Geraldine Hair of Saticoy and Betty Brobisky of Oak View; brother John Feyma of Ventura; sisters Bessie Vervoon of Ventura and Margaret Hansen of San Miguel, and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, son Donald and daughter Audrey.

Funeral services are scheduled at 10 a.m. today at Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura, which is handling the arrangements. The Rev. John Martin of the Church of the Foothills will officiate. Burial will follow at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura.

Memorial contributions may be made to a favorite charity.