Lyla Jean Rapley France Cornelius

Lyla Jean Rapley France Cornelius, 87, born Feb. 12, 1928, in Climax, Saskatchewan, Canada, to George and Gunda Rapley, was called home by her Lord and Savior on May 11, 2015, in Palmer.

She moved with her younger siblings to Wisconsin in 1940 after her parents’ untimely death. Jinx attended nursing school and started working at St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1950. She purchased a one-way ticket to Palmer in 1952 as an answer to an ad in the paper for nurses to come and work for one-year at the local hospital. She later said that if she had a ticket home she would have left, due to the inclement weather and sparse living conditions.

Jinx met and married Norman France on March 7, 1953, in Palmer. She and Norm had three beautiful children, John Wayne, Ernest Grant and Laura Louise. She worked as a nurse in multiple settings for 30 years before retiring in October 1992. In April of 1987, she received the Alaska Nurse of the Year for Excellence award. She was also a member of St. John Lutheran Church.

Jinx will be remembered as a free spirit and an adventurer. She was a loving, doting grandmother and a dutiful and faithful Christian. She loved knitting, reading, watching the Cubbies, baking, writing letters, swimming and drinking red wine while eating rhubarb crisp and ice cream.

Jinx is survived by two siblings; son, Ernie (Lori); daughter, Laura; grandsons, Adam and Danny (McKenna); granddaughters, Lauren, Kaye (Jon), Ivy (Dan), Gracie; and seven great-grandchildren, Savanna, Sierrah, Heidi, James, Emma, Annelise, and Avery.

She was preceded in death by her parents; six siblings; husbands Norman and Frank; son, John; and granddaughter, Heidi.

The funeral is at 1:30 p.m., May 15, at St. John Lutheran Church at 440 E. Elmwood Ave, Palmer. Her ashes will be buried during a small family ceremony at the Palmer Pioneer Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. John Lutheran Church.

Arrangements were entrusted to Valley Funeral Home, Wasilla Chapel.