Betty J. “Janey” Fordice Rice, 90, founding First Lady of the University of Southern Indiana, died Jan. 26, 2021.
She was born Nov. 24, 1930, in Putnam County, Indiana, near Russellville, to Rudolph Guilliams Fordice and Mary Ann Smiley Fordice.
Mrs. Rice was a home economics graduate of Purdue University, holding both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and was an educator and a respected leader in civic affairs. In recognition of her accomplishments, Purdue University honored her with its Service to Others Award in 1981, the highest honor accorded graduates.
At Purdue, she met her husband, David L. Rice. They were married Sept. 10, 1950, as they were completing undergraduate degrees. Mrs. Rice faithfully supported her husband’s university teaching, administration and research career at Ball State University, for the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. and at Indiana State University Evansville, now University of Southern Indiana, where he was the founding president. Dr. Rice equally supported her educational and business endeavors. They were married for 69 years until his death, Jan. 15, 2020.
The Rices, with children Denise and Mike, first came to Evansville in 1967, two years after the founding of public higher education in southwestern Indiana. Mrs. Rice was a full partner in building community involvement in the University of Southern Indiana. They served together in leadership for 27 years. In recognition of her singular role, the University awarded her an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in May of 2000, citing her “vision and boundless energy” in building community support for the University.
When the University of Southern Indiana Foundation built and donated the University Home in 1983 as the official residence of the first family, Mrs. Rice was instrumental in the planning, design and decorating of the home. She never forgot that community donations provided the home, and she graciously and generously opened it to many community organizations while the first family lived there.
An avid gardener, Mrs. Rice was owner of Peckenpaugh’s Garden Center in Evansville for several years. Through her involvement in the Westwood Garden Club, she helped to create the 25-acre Bent Twig Outdoor Learning Environment on the USI campus, which won a national Sears Environmental Award.
Mrs. Rice helped establish and sustain, through her personal involvement and fundraising, many programs to support learning and student life at the University, including women’s athletics, religious life, Greek-letter organizations and the well-known Madrigal dinners, for which she and other volunteers cooked in the early years. The Epicurean Society of America cited the USI Madrigals as one of 200 festival dinners to attend during the 1986 USA Bicentennial Celebration.
She served dozens of Evansville organizations, as a board member and frequently as board president, including Girl Scouts of Raintree Council, American Association of University Women, United Way, YWCA, Evansville Home Economists, Extension Homemakers, Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Keep Evansville Beautiful and Westwood Garden Club. In retirement, she served the USI-New Harmony Foundation and the Posey County Community Foundation. She was instrumental in many New Harmony fundraising efforts, including the restoration of the Helen Elliott Home, now the office for Historic New Harmony, and the Rapp-Owen Granary. She was a member of Pi Lambda Theta honorary society for women in education, Delta Kappa Gamma education society and Indiana and American Home Economics Association. She won the Jane Award of the Extension Homemakers.
Upon retirement as the First Family, the Rices moved to New Harmony, Indiana, where they became active in historic preservation and community restoration. They restored a historic home built after the Civil War by Julian Owen, son of community founder Robert Dale Owen, and added a one-room schoolhouse saved from central Indiana. Mrs. Rice furnished the handsome home in family antiques and period décor and it became a center for their hospitality there, bringing friends to the historic community. In 2014, the Rices moved to York, Pennsylvania, to be closer to daughter Denise, but they maintained a New Harmony residence until 2017.
Mrs. Rice was a member of Howell United Methodist Church in Evansville and Johnson United Methodist Church in New Harmony.
Mrs. Rice is survived by her children, Denise Rice Dawson (Greg) of York, Pennsylvania; and Dr. Michael A. Rice (Mary) of Indianapolis. She also is survived by six grandchildren, Clinton Dawson Ph.D. (Lindsay), Kaitlin Rice Prinsen M.D. (Andrew), Abigail Rice Haste M.D. (Paul), Jill M. Rice (Matt), Mitchell A. Rice and Anna A. Rice. She also is survived by great-grandchildren, Carter G. Haste, Adalai J. Prinsen, Eleanor J. Haste, Bennett A. Prinsen, and Emerson L. Haste. Great-grandchild Dawson is expected in March.
She also is survived by her brothers, Maurice Smiley Fordice, Richard Dean Fordice and Jacob Carroll Fordice. She was preceded in death by her sisters, Carolyn Sue Fordice and Nancy Lou Fordice Harbison.
Mrs. Rice will be buried beside her husband. Because of the pandemic, she will be laid to rest privately by her family.
Memorial gifts may be made to the David L. Rice and Betty Fordice Rice Presidential Scholarship Endowment at the University of Southern Indiana (USI) Foundation, 8600 University Boulevard, Evansville, IN 47712, the Girl Scouts of Southwest Indiana, 5000 E. Virginia St., Suite 2, Evansville, IN or the BJ Chapter of PEO in care of Barb McConnell, P.O. Box 115, New Harmony, IN 47631.
Arrangements by Machledt and Servies Funeral Home, Waveland, Indiana. Condolences may be made online at www.machledtservies.com.
