Janat Coleen Rice Obituary

Melvern - Janat Coleen Rice, 89, passed away on Sunday, May 8, 2022, at Sunset Manor in Waverly, Kansas. She was born on January 22, 1933, near Melvern, Kansas, the daughter of Lloyd and Mary (Burns) Fanning. Coleen grew up around Melvern and had lived on the farm northwest of Melvern since 1955. She had been in Waverly at Sunset Manor since 2020. Coleen graduated from Melvern High School, she worked at Hilltop Nursing Home as a nurse's aide before attending nursing school for LPN training. She then worked at St. Francis Hospital for a couple of years.

She then returned to Hilltop as an LPN for many years until her retirement. She was a member of the Melvern United Methodist Church, teaching Sunday School and Bible School, was a member of the United Methodist Women, helping with Penny Suppers and Bazaar's. She had been involved in HDU and was the 4-H Food Superintendent. On December 24, 1950, Coleen was united in marriage to Raymond Rice in Melvern. To this union six children were born, Steve, Rhonda, Randy, Nancy, Jerry and Danny. Coleen was a beautiful, kind person and a loving mother and grandmother.

She enjoyed baking and will always be remembered for her "grandma rolls" and pies. Her hobbies included reading and researching family genealogy. Most of all she loved her family and was dearly loved by them. Coleen was preceded in death by her husband, Raymond on August 3, 1997; by her son, Randy; a grandson, Jacob Knoernschild in 1981; her parents and her brothers. Coleen is survived by her five children, Steve (Debbie) Rice of Melvern, Rhonda (Bob) Knoernschild of Lyndon, Nancy (Bruce) Carselowey of Rock, Jerry (Pam) Rice and Danny (Terry) Rice, all of Waverly; her sister, JoAnn Arb of Melvern; sixteen grandchildren, twenty-eight great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

Memorial services for Coleen will be held at 3:00pm on Sunday, May 15 at the Feltner Funeral Chapel in Lyndon. The family will receive friends from 2:00pm until service time. Private family inurnment will be in the Melvern Cemetery. Memorial contributions for Coleen may be made to the Johnson Cancer Research Center (Kansas State University), sent in care of Feltner Funeral Home, 818 Topeka Avenue, Lyndon, KS. 66451.