For all of Fran Gilliland's 101 years, she's lived in a small town. Fran was born in rural northeast Nebraska and later moved with her husband, Keith, and then two high school aged daughters to Haxtun where she continues to reside today, at home, with the help of her daughter Cindy. Fran turned 101 on Sept. 8 and in just two weeks, she will lead the parade as Grand Marshal of the 101st annual Haxtun Corn Festival. An honor just one Haxtun citizen holds; being the same age as the community's most popular day of the year.

"My parents loved to travel but they especially loved coming home to a small town," Fran's daughter Cindy recalled of her parents' life together on the day of her mother's 101st birthday. "They just engrossed themselves in Haxtun when we moved here and Corn Festival is a big deal for Haxtun and it's something they never missed."

Fran was born in Plainview, Neb. on Sept. 8, 1921. Her first memory recalls when she was about three and one-half years old and her parents, Joseph and Ethel (Allen) Ruzicka, hired a photographer to come to the house to take pictures of her and her brother Robert "Bob" Ruzicka, who was about eight years old at the time. She remembers the photographer setting up a bunch of chairs in the family's living room. "He sat us in those chairs the way he wanted us to be and took several pictures." She still has one of the resulting photographs of herself.

Fran attended both elementary and high school in Plainview. She graduated from Plainview High School in 1939 then received a scholarship to Doane University in Crete, Neb., where she studied vocal music and English with plans to teach.

Keith and Fran met while both attending Doane. Keith, who was a year ahead of Fran, attended on an athletic scholarship with an emphasis in basketball and track. "He asked me to play bridge," she said to explain how they met. "Everybody was playing bridge. That was the game of the time. So, he asked me if I played. When I said yes, he said 'would you like to be my partner?' I said OK and that's how we met. Then he asked me to go to the movies and one thing led to another and then the war came."

Keith put his education and his plans to marry Fran on hold in the winter of 1942 when he join the United States Navy with the idea of becoming a fighter pilot. He then spent a year in Pensacola, Fla., where he earned his wings and a commission. Fran flew to Florida a month before Keith received his commission and stayed with a Navy Chaplin and his wife until the wedding. The Chaplin performed the wedding ceremony on Feb. 16, 1943 in a small chapel on the Pensacola Navy Base. "We had to wait until he became an officer before we could get married," said Fran. "The Navy only wanted single men to train as fighter pilots. So, in the morning he became an ensign and that night we got married."

After the wedding, she and Keith purchased a 1934 Ford Coupe for $150. "We drove that thing to Chicago. That was the next place he was stationed." Keith became a pilot the day he and Fran married, but then he began advanced training. "Chicago is where he learned to land on a ship," said Fran. "They put an old ship out there on Lake Michigan and that's where the first students learned to land on water."

Keith's advanced training took he and Fran from place to place over the next nine months. Those places included, Miami, Illinois, Seattle and the deserts of California. He learned to fly at night in California and qualified as a fighter pilot aboard a carrier on Lake Michigan. Fran said Keith learned quickly enough that he was soon able to take a 30-day leave. "We went to Nebraska to see my parents and then to South Dakota to visit Keith's parents. While we were in South Dakota, Keith's dad found a decent car for us to buy and we traded that old coupe in for an Oldsmobile." She said they drove the Oldsmobile to San Diego, Calif., where they stayed long enough to get their permanent residence. They then drove to Seattle, Wash., where Keith joined Fighter Pilot Squadron (VC) 41, which he remained a member of for the rest of the war. "And, of course I was with him all of the time," said Fran. "He was a married man and he wanted me with him."

When Keith went overseas with his squadron Fran went back to Plainview and taught school during the war years. "I taught wherever they needed me," she said. Although Fran trained to teach music, "When the men were called to the Army, I taught a lot of different subjects, including the history and geography of Nebraska. I had to learn those subjects the same as my students." She also taught agriculture at one time.

Keith went overseas in March of 1943. When he came back, his Squadron reformed, but again as VC 41. The squadron then went up and down the west coast from Washington to California, but now Fran went with him. Keith remained in the Navy until November of 1945. He received an "Air Medal" for bravery in action from the United States Congress and a Special Citation for leading flights in the Pacific. He left the Navy as a full Lieutenant, which is the equivalent of a Captain in the Army or the Marines.

After the war, Keith finished college in Springfield, Mass., the National YMCA University, in two years and then became a high school coach in Lauer, which was another small town in northeast Nebraska. Fran said basketball was Keith's passion and many of the teams he coached earned State Championships.

Fran stopped teaching after the war to stay home and raise her daughters, Marsha, born Oct. 18, 1947 and Cindy, born Aug. 14, 1949. The family, which then consisted of Keith, Fran and their two daughters, Marsha and Cindy, stayed in Nebraska until Keith purchased the Haxtun Community Bank in Haxtun in 1964. Both girls finished high school in Haxtun. Marsha graduated from Haxtun High School in 1966 and Cindy in 1967.

After they moved to Haxtun, Fran went back to work off and on in Haxtun and Holyoke. Then, when Marsha and Cindy started college, they needed more money so Fran went back to teaching vocal music fulltime in Holyoke. In addition to teaching music, Fran sang in the Haxtun United Methodist Church choir. She remains a member of the Methodist Church, but no longer sings in the choir.

While her two kids were growing up, she was also active with their academic, musical and athletic endeavors. Cindy said one time her class was building a float for the annual Corn Festival parade and wanted to use a piece of furniture in the house and her mom allowed it. "She told me to use whatever we needed," Cindy said. Cindy said they loaded it up and took it to the school to put on the float. Fran was active in the Haxtun Booster Club and she and Keith went to every game, especially football games. Cindy noted that her dad was also the official timer of the Haxtun Relays for quite some time.

Keith owned the bank for about 12 years, said Fran. He then sold it to a man from Denver who then sold it to Lloyd Nelson and a group of investors. Nelson sold the bank to a Nebraska group out of Chappell in 2003. The bank's name changed to Points West Community Bank in April of 2008.

After Keith retired, he and Fran traveled to many different places either on cruise ships or driving with tour groups. "That was fun," said Fran. "We went on tours to World Fairs with groups of people." They also went to South and Central America. She said in Central America they went across that country via the Panama Canal. "You can go from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean by boat." She said they liked it so much that they decided to do it again but that time they went from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. "It was more fun to go from the Atlantic to the Pacific because they open the gates and you are lifted higher and higher until you get to the Pacific." She said they open the gates and the water takes the whole ship up a little ways then when it gets to that level, you go a little ways further and then they let out more water and it lifts you up a little higher. She said you can watch it happening and the scenery is beautiful. "It took a lot of water to lift that ship up even a little bit," said Fran, adding that it was necessary to lift the ship because the Pacific Ocean is higher than the Atlantic Ocean.

She said they went the other way, from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, a few years later, starting in California, "but that way is not as pretty and thrilling as the other way," she said.

Fran said they also took many tours with travel companies, traveling to Germany, Czechoslovakia and France in Central Europe, then later to England, Scotland and Ireland. She said that part of Europe is beautiful country as well, especially Scotland. "I wished we could have stayed longer in Scotland."

In addition to traveling, they also spent time in California, where they had another home near San Francisco, and in Arkansas, where they also had a home. "We were in Arkansas both winter and summer, but oh, the ice in Arkansas in the winter ... you have never seen ice until you go there." She said they stayed a few months in those places, mostly to get away from winters here.

Fran said she and Keith enjoyed their retirement doing a lot of things, including a trip to Guam, where daughter Cindy and husband Woody were living, and they met a lot of people that she kept in touch with for a time. She has outlived many of them.

Keith passed away on March 6, 1999. Fran and Keith celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary shortly before his death. "Today most people don't even bother to get married," said Fran. "In the future 50th wedding anniversaries will be a thing of the past."

Fran made a few trips after Keith died, including a visit to the Amish in Iowa, whom she said are wonderful people and awesome cooks. "They have big farms and the group I was with went out to one of those farms and had fried chicken and roast beef, pies and cakes and homemade breads. There was so much to eat that you just couldn't believe it." She said the Amish women also make blankets and other things besides foods. "All handmade, just beautiful things." She recalled purchasing cookies to enjoy on the remainder of the tour. She also took a tour to Glenwood Springs and once went to the mountains and rode the ski lifts to see the country. "I only took a few trips without Keith," she said. "It was enjoyable, but not as much."

Daughter Cindy and husband Woody Johnson recently moved back to Haxtun from Guam, they now live with Fran to help care for her. Cindy and Woody have three children, Christine, Eric and Daniel, and three grandchildren, Evelyn and twins Myles and Elian.

Marsha, who lives in Colorado Springs, was married to Craig Garrett, but is now divorced. The Garretts have two children, Rachel and Samantha. Marsha's family has grown to include three grandchildren; Nila and Asher DeWolf and Oberon Wendell.

Fran goes to Denver every eight weeks to receive shots for her macular degeneration and that gives Cindy's daughters the opportunity to see her so she can see her great-grandchildren.

Since she has problems with the sight in one eye and reading is difficult, Fran listens to books, but music remains her passion although singing is more difficult these days. "I now sing in the shower." She said she was never a pianist, but she did accompany other singers.

Music has changed a lot in the past 100 years, said Fran. "You used to have orchestras that you could dance to all night, now it's guitars and western music. And that is not my passion." One of her favorite bandleaders was Glen Miller of Fort Morgan who died in World War II. She has a lot of recordings of the music she loves, but because of changing technology, she is not always able to play them. Still, living over 100 years has not diminished Fran's passion for music.

In fact, Cindy said Fran's favorite part of the annual Corn Festival event is the bands that march in the annual parade. "She just loves the marching bands," Cindy said.

Cindy said her dad, who had a great respect for famers, also enjoyed watching the farm equipment go through the parade. She said Keith and Fran loved to see the advances in technology in new equipment but also liked to watch as the antique pieces moved through because they could remember those machines while they were in use.

"My dad loved farmers, he loved harvest and he loved the combines," Cindy said. "They (her mom and dad) had a great appreciation for farmers and the work they do."

Cindy said that in most recent years, Fran's grandchildren enjoy visiting over Corn Festival weekend and some participate in the J. Jeffryes run on Saturday morning. She said the kids would go run in the morning and visit with friends. Later they return to Fran's house with lunch from the Lions Club stand, which really makes her mother happy.

"They just both loved the simple life," Cindy said of her parents. "They always loved to travel but they especially loved coming home to Haxtun."