Frances Gates Rizer

Frances Evelyn Gates Rizer

December 12th, 1944 - December 24th, 2019

Columbia, SC - With her family by her side, Frances Evelyn Gates Rizer left this world in the early morning hours of Christmas Eve.  Ms. Rizer was the daughter of the late Everett Claude Gates and Frances Willene Baker Gates. She is survived by her sons, Nathan Rizer of Lexington and Adam Rizer of Columbia; and her grandson, Nathaniel Aeden Rizer of Lexington. 

Ms. Rizer was a member of the Eau Claire High School Class of 1962.  She graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1964 with a degree in education, and at nineteen years old she began teaching high school that fall.  She also worked as a freelance photographer and writer, and later received her master’s degree from the University of South Carolina in Elementary Education.

After retiring from twenty-five years' teaching in public schools, Ms. Rizer began a series of mystery books featuring the character Callie Parrish, a beautician in a mortuary who solved crimes in her spare time.  Berkley Prime Crime published the Callie Parrish Mystery Series.  She later worked with various publishing houses in the southeast.  An avid reader, Fran devoured mysteries and true crime nightly.  She wrote constantly and was always working on her next novel.  She was fond of telling people, “According to Google, Fran Rizer: published articles in many magazines, including Bluegrass Unlimited and Bluegrass Now; won awards in photography, including the photo-essay Sequence of a Smile; co-authored scientific nature studies for Clemson University; won several fiction and poetry writing contests including for the Augusta Arts Council; and wrote songs that were published, recorded, and received radio airplay, but are not hits just yet.”

She loved to say, “Why should the facts get in the way of a good story?”

A memorial service will be held at 11:00a.m. Saturday, January 25th, 2020 at Barr-Price Funeral Home, Lexington Chapel, 609 Northwood Road Lexington, SC 29072.   

Special appreciation is extended to Dr. Libbey and all of the doctors, nurses, and medical staff at Lexington Medical Center who extended compassionate care to our loved one. 

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