Cora Pauline Belcher

Cora Pauline (Fry) Belcher, was born to Lester C. and Anna S. (Emick) Fry, on a farm near Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on November 27, 1930, and completed her life journey on May 8, 2026. Cora’s elementary years were in a one-room school. Having just completed a condensed 7th and 8th grade year with one classmate, she experienced a seismic change on entering a junior high which had 9 classrooms of 9th graders. She enjoyed learning, progressing through Montoursville (PA) High School (1948) and Williamsport (PA) Hospital’s School of Nursing (1951) where she earned top awards for both pediatrics and surgery before attending Wheaton College (BSN, 1955). During an introductory Bible class, she met George whom she married on August 25, 1955. Cora worked as a registered nurse and cared for a few children of George’s medical school classmates. Six children joined the family while they made their homes in Kansas City, KS, Williamsport, PA, and Columbus, KS. Moves after the children were grown took them to Tinker, Incirlik, Langley, and Ellsworth Air Force bases, and their retirement in Independence, KS. Cora loved to garden (vegetables and iris), travel (Canada, Alaska, Scotland), read (Shakespeare Club and Columbus Library Board), and quilt (piecing and quilting by hand). Cora supported her children’s participation in 4-H, music, and sports. She was faithfully involved in Sunday School and Ladies Circles wherever she lived, most recently Independence First United Methodist Church.

Preceded in death by her parents, husband Col(ret) George Dale Belcher, MD, nine brothers and sisters, and a daughter-in-law, Cora is survived by her sister Betty Bennett, children Dale and Nancy Belcher, Rita Friesen, Tim and Ruth Belcher, Mark and Karen Belcher, Amy and Ted Ferm, Tina Ferguson, 18 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren.

Graveside services will be on Wednesday, May 13, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. at Mount Hope Cemetery, Independence, Kansas.  A Memorial Service will be held on Friday, July 10, 2026 at First United Methodist Church, Independence, Kansas, time to be determined.

Memorials are suggested to Riverside Park and Ralph Mitchell Zoo, FORPAZ 400 Mickey Mantle Way, Independence, Kansas 67301