Aunt Gracie was a character, a cute one. She was short in stature and had beautiful red hair that turned white when she was older. Ed, my husband, enjoyed listening to her stories and she appreciated having an audience. She had the Hanks’ knack for telling family stories that were funny if a bit exaggerated for entertainment value. She made fun of herself as well as her siblings.
We visited Aunt Gracie after Christmas in 2007. I mentioned when leaving that we’d see her at Easter. She shook her head and gave me a good hug. I have to say she gave Ed a longer one. He talks about that hug even today, ten years later. She died a month after our last visit.
Amy “Grace” Hanks was born April 15, 1925. I haven’t been able to locate her birth record but the family was living at Floydada at the time. Grace was five at the 1930 census and lived in Floydada with her parents, Aubrey and Mae (Meador) Hanks, and her grandparents, Tobe and Minnie (Smith) Hanks. She had four older siblings (Earl, Fred, Laverne, and Helen) and two younger siblings (Glenn and Glenna). The family lived at 327 West Crockett. Gracie’s father sold automobile parts and her grandparents owned a hotel downtown. My mother recalled when she and her cousin, Kacky Daniel, got into trouble for trying to thwart Gracie’s instinct to tell.
We were all there at the hotel one Sunday and we were turning up rocks for some reason on a vacant lot. We found some money. I don’t remember – then I thought it was like a thousand dollars so it must have been five or ten dollars. I don’t know what it was. We decided we were going to keep that money and spend it because we found it, it was under a rock. We knew if we told it would get taken away from us. So we all agreed except for this sister younger than me. She was the tattle tale of the family. Grace. And so she was going to go tell and we locked her (laughing) in one of the empty rooms at the top of that hotel for nearly a day. And we really – my grandfather spanked – he didn’t spank – he got a belt.
In the photo below Gracie appears to be about twelve or thirteen. If so, she was either living in Amarillo or Albuquerque at the time the picture was taken.
The 1940 census indicated that the family was in Amarillo in 1935 but had moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico by 1940. The family was living in the San Jose community at 2101 South Edith. Gracie was fourteen, in the 8th grade, and the oldest sibling living at home. Besides Glenn and Glenna, she had three additional younger siblings: Paul “Sonny,” Betty Jean and Billy.
In the photo below Gracie is with her younger sister, Glenna. They had just moved to Albuquerque and were standing on the step of their father’s cattle truck that he used, also, to haul pallets.
Something the younger half of the Hanks siblings chided one another about was the number of times they married. Gracie was supposed to have held the record for number of marriages though I could only find documentation for four. She may have married Bill Anderson twice or perhaps that was her younger sister, Glenna. Another controversy was that Grace and Glenna married two of the same men. Billy, their younger brother, remembered Bill Anderson saying that he wanted to stay part of the Hanks because he would miss Mae’s cooking. Mae, of course, was the sisters’ mother. Bill was a beloved uncle and remained dear to his Hanks’ nephews and nieces even when he was no longer married to a Hanks.
Bill Anderson had two sons, William “Kelder” and Danny, when he married Grace. Their mother died when Kelder was three and Danny was nine months. Gracie was their mother during their younger years until she and Bill divorced. The boys stayed in touch with Grace as adults.
Click here for Bill Anderson’s “Find A Grave Memorial.”
Gracie was married to Bill Anderson when her brother, Fred, died in 1955. The photo below shows Fred and Grace together, perhaps in 1953, the year that both their older brother, Earl, and mother, Mae, died.
Calvin “Cal” Crossley lived with my family on Edith Street in the late spring or summer of 1960 so perhaps he met the Hanks sisters through my dad. Gracie married Cal Crossley on January 27, 1961. Cal later married Gracie’s sister, Glenna, but the marriage record date was noted as between 1961 and 1980 so the exact date is unknown to me.
Gracie’s and Cal’s marriage record shows that Gracie’s last name was Rodgers when they married. Uncle Billy remembers Chub as the nickname for the Rogers that Gracie married. I was unable to locate their marriage record or Chub’s given name.
In November 1963, my brother, Jerry, had an automobile accident that caused him to be paralyzed from mid chest down. During this time Gracie was a big support to my mother and our family. She was savvy regarding the workings of government and contacted New Mexico congressmen on Jerry’s behalf. The time Jerry served in Vietnam was not yet recognized as an official war. It took a few years before that happened and, when it did, Jerry was admitted into Albuquerque’s Veterans Hospital. Only through Veterans Hospital did he receive rehabilitation needed for him to be somewhat independent by being able to get around in a wheelchair and drive a hands-operated car. I don’t know who was ultimately responsible for getting Jerry into Veteran’s Hospital but I know that Mother was especially grateful to Gracie for all that she did.
Gracie worked in the food and beverage industry. She usually worked in the bar area as a cocktail waitress or bartender. She most often was manager and recruited her younger sisters to help wherever she worked. I remember visiting her on the job when she worked in Albuquerque at the top floor of the bank located at Central and San Mateo. It was a private dining venue with a view of the city. I also visited her while she was at work at the Belen Country Club.
Gracie married Eugene “Gene” Frink about 1982 and they were married for 26 years. When Gene retired as a truck driver he and Gracie went through a period of adjustment. Gracie complained about Gene moving things around in her kitchen. With indignation she threatened to do the same with his things in the garage. Another of Gracie’s stories told with tongue in cheek. They traveled for several years after Gene retired. Gene was a handyman and Mother could count on him fixing whatever needed to be fixed when they visited her in California.
Gene and Gracie owned their home for many years at 118 Edward Drive in Belen, New Mexico. Recie, Gracie’s niece, remembered always enjoying visits to see them. Gene’s and Gracie’s home was the gathering place, especially, when family visited from out of town. I remember one night in particular when Recie and Lola were visiting from California and family memories were shared all evening. I laughed so hard my sides hurt.
The photos below show Gene and Gracie in their parallel recliners with poodles that were family members and always present. Gene, now close to 100, is in Ohio with family.
On January 22, 2008 Gracie died at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque. I only learned a day or two before she died that she was in the hospital in a coma. I visited her on the way home from work. There were about a dozen family members in her hospital room including Aunt Betty. The others were Gene’s family as his family was a big part of her life. I thought I would visit Aunt Gracie early the next morning, on my way to work, and say my goodbye in private. Sadly for me, she had passed late night/early morning before I arrived.
Gracie’s funeral was officiated by Pastor Boyd Morerod at First Baptist Church in Los Chavez. Brother Boyd has officiated services for several Hanks over the years and is considered a family friend. Gracie’s obituary, below, was printed in Valencia County News Bulletin on January 26, 2008.
Amy Grace (Gracie) Frink, age 83, born in Floydada, Texas, and a resident of Belen, passed away on Tuesday, Jan. 22.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Aubery and Mattie Mae Hanks; three brothers, Earl, Fred and Glen Hanks; and two sisters, Glenna Hanks and Helen Elliott.
Grace is survived by her loving husband of 26 years, Gene Frink; two daughters, Lori Padilla and her husband, Victor, and Cathy Vigil and her husband, Larry; son, Chuck Fink and his wife, Brenda; two sisters, Lavern Clark and BJ Coker; two brothers, Paul Hanks and his wife, Ruth, and Billy Hanks and his wife, Joyce; five nephews, Scott Hanks, David and Kenny Pinnick and Henry and Russell Anderson; and four nieces, Sandy Latter, Sue Garley, Lorace Hornyak and Lola Ball. She is also survived by many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-nieces and great-nephews.
A memorial service will be held at the First Baptist Church in Los Chavez, on Saturday, Jan. 26, at 2 p.m. with Pastor Boyd Morerod officiating. Interment will take place at a later date.
Grace was cremated.
In loving memory of Aunt Gracie Hanks
Records located on Ancestry.com
1930 US Federal Census, Floydada, Floyd County, Texas, Precinct 1
1940 US Federal Census, San Jose, Bernalillo County, New Mexico
Ancestry.com Families
United States Obituary Collection
US City Directories, 1821 – 1989
US Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850 – 2010
US Find A Grave Index, 1600’s – current
US Public Records Index, Volume 1
US Public Records Index, Volume 2
US Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936 – 2007
US Social Security Death Index, 1935 – 2014
US World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938 – 1946
Web: Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Marriage Index, 1888 – 2011
Other Sources
Valencia County News Bulletin
Billy Lawton Hanks’ interview recorded October 25, 2012.
Helen Hanks Warren Elliott’s “Life Span Interview,” recorded May 27, 1987.
Permissions
Thanks to Aunt Betty Hanks Coker, brother Bobby Dale Warren, and cousins Lola Sanders Ball and Recie Sanders Hornyak, for graciously sharing family photos.
Generations 
what a beautiful life
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