Lillie Frances Thomas DeName -- Telephone Operator and Insurance Agent

 

Frances Thomas DeName

Lillie Frances Thomas was born on January 13, 1927 in Trigg County, Kentucky.  She was the only child of Cordie Gilbert Thomas and Mina Louise Wallis Thomas. Cordie was an employee of a milling company and a restaurant operator. Mina worked as a telephone operator and was the co-owner and operator of the Thomas Roost Restaurant. Both Cordie and Mina were natives of Trigg County.  Frances was a descendant of Starkie Thomas.

Frances grew up in Cadiz and graduated from Trigg County High School in 1944. 

On June 8, 1946, Frances married Carmine “Johnny” DeName in Cadiz at the home of the pastor of the Methodist Church, the Rev. T. C. Morrison.  At the time, Johnny was serving in the military at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.  He was born on December 23, 1919 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Anthony Joseph DeName and Louisa “Louise” LaGrego DeName.  Anthony worked in the construction industry and was a native of Italy.  Louisa was a native of Brooklyn, New York.

Johnny was drafted into the U.S. Army on September 11, 1942 at Fort Dix, New Jersey.  He was honorably discharged on October 22, 1945 and he re-enlisted that same day into the regular Army and was finally discharged on December 7, 1946, with the rank of staff sergeant.  While assigned to Fort Campbell, he was an assistant compound commander in charge of guarding German prisoners of war.

After Frances and Johnny were married, they made their home at Fort Campbell where Frances worked at the Post Ordinance Office.  After they left the military, the couple settled in Cadiz,  Frances was employed at a number of places including working as a switchboard telephone operator for the Southern Bell Telephone Company, with the Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance Company, the State Farm Insurance Company and as an insurance agent and vice president of the Trigg County Insurance Agency.   Johnny was employed by the Cadiz Milling Company, the Trigg County High School bookstore and the City of Cadiz Sewage Treatment Plant. Frances also served as a member of the Cadiz City Council.

Frances and Johnny were the parents of four children, Toni Louise DeName, born in 1946 and died at birth; Thomas Anthony “Tony” DeName, born in 1949 and married Wanda Gail Calhoun; Vicki Louise DeName, born in 1951 and married Ronald Payne Hutchinson and then married Paul Ray Godwin; and Cindy Frances DeName, born in 1955 and married Kenneth Joe Smith and later married Ronald Maurice Long, 

Frances died on April 13, 1996 at the age of 69 at her home in Cadiz.  She was buried in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz.  Johnny died on July 10, 2001 at the age of 81 at his home in Cadiz. He was buried in the East End Cemetery next to his wife.

Johnny DeName

 

Frances and Johnny

 

Newspaper article on the end of the telephone operators--Frances is shown in the lower left row of the operators
 

Johnny and Frances tombstone

LINEAGE: (Lillie Frances Thomas was the daughter of Cordie Gilbert and Mina Louise Wallis Thomas.  Cordie was the second child of Stanley Dyer and Willie Ethel Hite Thomas.  Stanley was the first child of William Henry and Sidney Dyer Thomas. William Henry was the third child of Stanley and Emily Ann Light Thomas.  Stanley was the second child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas.  Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)