Janice Elaine (Fred) Nehring went to her Savior Jesus Christ on June 9, 2026, in her daughter’s arms. She was born a farmer’s daughter to Burel Chester Sanders and Ruth Elisabeth Skinner in Sandwich, Illinois, on October 9, 1945.
Graveside services will be held at 2:00 PM Mountain Time on Saturday, June 13, 2026, at the Kenton Cemetery in Kenton, Oklahoma. Arrangements are under the direction of Hass Funeral Directors of Clayton, New Mexico.
She married the love of her life, Kent Nehring, in DeKalb, Illinois, on July 1, 1965, and with her baby daughter on her hip soon after, headed west to fulfill his cowboy dreams. They lived and worked on ranches in Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Texas, and New Mexico, and spent the last 23 years living life on the border of New Mexico, Colorado, and Oklahoma in the Cimarron Valley and Kenton, Oklahoma, communities.
As a young girl, she grew up on the Howard Kauffman Turkey Farm outside Waterman, Illinois. She was a majorette in Marlyn’s Majorettes of Sycamore, Illinois, twirling in competitions and parades all over and always bringing home the trophy. She twirled in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, the Indianapolis 500 Parade, Chicago parades, and many more. Her love of twirling was taught to her daughter, and she coached and taught many girls over the years.
As a ranch wife, she wore many hats and worked alongside her husband with cattle, sheep, horses, and so many bottle babies, all of which she named. She pitched in on the rodeo life and stock show road for many years, even hauling the steers, running the books, and doing the announcing at the ropings and roping schools they put on. She drove the tractor putting up hay so much one summer, doing a man’s work, that Kent gave her the nickname Fred, and it stuck.
Some ranches enabled her to do other jobs off the ranch. She was a forest ranger in Lincoln National Forest in Three Rivers, N.M., and also a cattle and farm records secretary. She even drove a school bus and worked at the high school in Water Valley, Texas. She loved traveling to all the ball games, supporting her daughter and classmates. She worked at the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, feeding visiting astronomers. She ran the tire center at RIP Griffin’s in Big Spring, Texas, and worked in the ER at Shannon in San Angelo.
In her later years, Fred worked at the post office in Kenton, Oklahoma.
She wasn’t a stranger to hard work and loved crossing things off her to-do list daily. Her love was feeding her birds, jigsaw puzzles, flowers, reading, fishing, Cubs Baseball and watching the rodeo’s on tv, playing games and cards with family during holidays, and remaining the Wii Bowling Champion many years in a row.
She loved to decorate and keep an immaculate home. But one of her greatest loves, for which she was well known, was her cooking. She fed many a cowboy and hunter over the years, and it’s been known that many working cowboys would volunteer to help just for her meals.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her sister, Linda Lou Sanders; her nephew, Mark Sanders; brothers-in-law Doug and Chuck Nehring; and her sister-in-law, Kathleen Nehring.
Janice lived the life of a true Proverbs 31 wife and will be deeply missed here on earth.
“She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.”
SURVIVORS:
She is survived by her husband, Kent, of Kenton, Oklahoma; daughter Kara and Kenny McMurtrey of Trinidad, Colorado; grandson Chad and Amanda McMurtrey of Moore, Oklahoma; grandson Brandon and Nicole McMurtrey of Fort Worth, Texas; granddaughter Kendra and Jason Garrett of San Antonio, Texas; granddaughter Michelle McMurtrey of Midland, Texas; and 9 great-grandchildren.
She is also survived by brother Jack and Dorothy Sanders of Edgerton, Wisconsin; sisters-in-law Donna Nehring of Sweetwater, Texas, and Cindy Nehring of Murphysboro, Illinois; and many nieces and nephews.
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