Rita DuFrane

ST. JOSEPH – Rita A. DuFrane, 67, of St. Joseph passed away Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014, at Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana.

Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014, at Freese Funeral Home, 302 E. Grand Ave., St. Joseph. Burial will be in Patterson Cemetery, St. Joseph. Visitation will be from noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.

Rita was born March 15, 1947, the daughter of Leah Walker Walton and Forrest Rawdin Jr. She married Rondeau K. DuFrane on Nov. 10, 1973. He survives.

Survivors include four children, Mrs. Jackie (Jeffery) Ohl of Mahomet, Mr. John DuFrane of Champaign, Ms. Erin DuFrane-Woods (Russ Fagle) of Iowa City, Iowa, and Mrs. Darla Copsy (Jon) of Mattoon; nine grandchildren, Lauryn and Ryan Ohl, Jack and Nina DuFrane, Peyton and Aaronson Woods, Owen Vick, and Samantha and Danielle Copsy; two sisters, Gail Daly of Lancaster, S.C., and Martha Knoth of Jefferson City, Mo.; and three brothers, Marcus Walton of Danville, Jon Hoy of Brownsburg, Ind., and Dennis Hoy of Greenwood, Ind.

She was preceded in death by her mother, her father and her stepfather, Marion Walton.

Mrs. DuFrane worked at Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance as executive assistant while living in Mattoon. She had positions with the College of Law and a few departments at the University of Illinois. She said, "I learned something everywhere I worked." While with the Department of Economics, she worked with Professor Neil on Explorations in Economic History and was published.