BAKERSFIELD, Calif. â€" Audrey Marie Francisco, 89, passed away on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011, at Emeritus Assisted Living facility in Bakersfield. She had lived in Billings the past 61 years.

Audrey was born May 9, 1922, in Sheridan, Wyo., to Homer and Ida Irene Gebo. She was raised in Sheridan and attended Sheridan High School. During those early years, she loved to ride horses, ice skate and fish with her father. In 1941, she was a rodeo princess, in line to be rodeo queen of the Sheridan WYO Rodeo, but World War II canceled that.

She married her first husband, Loyal Everett Kirkland, in Long Beach, Calif., in 1943. There the couple had son Jeffry Michael Kirkland. She moved back to Sheridan in 1946 and married Bruce Milton Francisco in 1948. They moved to Billing in 1950, and she gave birth to Linda Lou Francisco in June.

She worked in a variety of capacities in Billings but was most proud of being the supervisor of the word processing department of the former Security Trust & Savings Bank (now First Interstate Bank) and all its affiliates.

Audrey moved to Bakersfield in December 2010 to be closer to her daughter.

Audrey was preceded in death by her husband, Bruce. She leaves behind her son Jeff and his wife Carol, her daughter Linda and husband Ed Wenner, three grandsons, and eight great-grandchildren.

Audrey was cremated and will be brought back to Billings this summer by Linda and Ed, to rest by Bruce. There will be a celebration of her life at that time.

The Billings Gazette - Dec. 30, 2011.