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Obituary

 

On September 1, 1928, Katherine Nikkel was born to Henry H. and Agatha
Williams Nikkel in Shafter, California.

She had many enjoyable memories from her youth, growing up on her father’s
farm across the street from Myrick’s Corner, just north of Shafter. She was part of
the Shafter Mennonite Brethren Church family and attended Richland School. At
a young age, she accepted Jesus as her Savior and was baptized when she was in
her teens. That peaceful childhood was interrupted on her 11th birthday when
her mother passed away from kidney disease. With her two older sisters grown
and off pursuing work in Bakersfield, she stepped up to help her father take care
of her older brother and younger sister by managing many of the household
chores. A few years later her father was remarried to Mary Fast. Kathy’s
stepmother came into the home and interrupted the routine which Kathy had
established. Even though their relationship was cordial, Kathy was ready to move
on as soon as possible.

When she was 14, while attending Shafter High School, she and a 16 year-old boy
from Wasco, started noticing each other while attending various services at
church. Roger Frantz graduated and while she was still in High School, he asked if
she would wait for him while he worked as a smokejumper in Montana during the
Second World War and the year immediately after. In his tent he displayed
Kathy’s picture and some of the other smokejumpers asked him who the movie
star was. Upon her graduation, Roger Frantz gave her an engagement ring.
After one semester at Pacific Bible Institute in Fresno, Kathy and Roger married
April 11, 1947, and moved into a tiny house on Western Avenue on the Wasco
area farm close to Roger’s parents. It was while living there, in 1949, that they
were blessed with a son, Thomas, and then in 1951, a daughter, Melissa. Kathy
was fortunate to be a stay-at-home mom. In 1954, while traveling up Highway
43, she and her 2 small children were struck by a car running a stop sign at
Merced Avenue. The young children in the back seat weren’t injured, but Kathy’s
beautiful face broke the windshield of the car. She spent several weeks in the
hospital for several surgeries. Life went on, and her injuries healed, but she had
to learn to live with the scars.

When Roger’s parents moved into Shafter in the mid 50’s, Kathy and Roger
moved into the “big” farmhouse next door. It was there they were blessed with
another son, Samuel. She was a Room Mother, Cub Scout leader and she was
always available for her children and helped them find their way and build their
trust in the Lord. She drove them to the doctor many times with accidental
injuries, even though the sight of blood made her weak-kneed. The family went
to many Dodger games together, she even caught a foul ball once, or shall we say,
her purse caught it while just sitting in her lap. She put in many years as a Sunday
School teacher and VBS leader. She also was always a support to her husband
who was very active in church and church conference leadership. Their home was
the scene of countless meals and overnight accommodations for visiting
conference leaders, missionaries and friends. She demonstrated hospitality to
her kids. Kathy was also a generous supporter of the Mennonite Central
Committee, especially the annual quilt auction to the point of purchasing a quilt
for each of her grandchildren.

The special friendship that Kathy and Roger shared with Art and Donna Penner is
something that has endured for over half a century. Their families shared many
camping trips and road trips pulling their little Arrowhead camp trailers. A trip
that is still spoken of was the one they took together to the Seattle World’s Fair in
the Summer of 1962. These trips are partly responsible for the travel bug her
children, and grandchildren, have for seeing faraway places. She and Roger
traveled all over America as well as many nations around the world. They would
often enlist various other couples to go along with them on cruises and tours. The
desire to see distant locations may have arisen out of her love of reading, it being
her favorite pastime. A simple way she engaged with others was by gathering
two or three other couples for an evening playing table games, especially a card
game called Cadillac.

How blessed this family has been with a prayer warrior that Kathy was for her
family. She has stood in the gap for her family many, many times. Because of her
unconditional love for her family, family gatherings were peaceful, loving and
relaxing. She gets a lot of the credit for that. A mother sets the mood and Kathy
was always in a good one when her family was together.

In the late 50’s, they bought another farm with a bigger house on Fresno Avenue
near Maple School south of Wasco and West of Shafter. They remained there
until Roger’s death in 2012. Kathy bought her own home on Sycamore Street in
Shafter shortly after and resided there until 2019 when she moved to Carrington
of Shafter when she needed assistance caring for herself.

On March 3, 2021 Kathy walked into the arms of Jesus, at the age of 92. Her
daughter was with her at the end of this part of her life. She had been placed on
hospice about six weeks earlier to help deal with chronic back pain. At that time,
no one thought things would transpire toward end-of-life this quickly. That
decline was precipitated by a seemingly simple fall that resulted in a fractured
pelvis.

She is preceded in death by her husband of nearly 65 years, Roger L. Frantz; her
parents, her stepmother; her sisters and their husbands, Edna and Daniel
Gloeckler; Claire and Jack Gerrie; her brother and his wife, Alvin and Minnie
Nikkel; her brother-in-law Gus Stoesz; Roger’s sisters and their husbands: Emily
and Otto Pankratz; Juanita and Albert Enns; Edna and Art Wiens; Helen and Adolf
Buhler; Betty and Norman Berg; and Roger’s brother Daniel Frantz.
Kathy is survived by: her sister June Stoesz of St. Paul, MN; sister-in-law Joanne
Frantz; best life-long friend Donna Boese Penner; sons and their wives: Thomas
and Aletha Frantz; Samuel and Susan Frantz; daughter and her husband Melissa
and Barry Braun; her grandchildren: Katherine “Katie” and husband Edward
Moreno; Annaliese “Annie” Braun; Tara Frantz and fiancé Angel Sanchez;
Elisabeth “Betsy” and husband Primo Ocampo; Peter and wife Toni Frantz; Cora
Frantz; Emma and husband Craig Frantz; Aaron and wife Courtney Frantz; her
great grandchildren: Claire, Bauer, Holden “Farmer”, Archer and Gwen Moreno;
Caleb, Colt and Autumn Ocampo; Kate and Tess Frantz and Indie Frantz.
A Graveside Service was held on Monday, March 8, 2021, at 2:00 pm at the
Shafter Memorial Cemetery.

A heartfelt thank you to the staff at Carrington of Shafter and the nurses and
aides from Hoffman Hospice for lovingly caring for her.