Betty Lou (Padon) Firestone August 27, 1937 ~ June 23, 2023 (age 85)

A graveside service for Betty Lou Firestone, 85, of Portales, will be held at 10:00 A.M., on Wednesday, June 28, 2023, in the Melrose Cemetery with Ken Davis officiating.

Betty Lou (Padon) Firestone was born on August 27, 1937, in Callahan, Texas, to the home of Myrtle Temple (Finley) and Raymond B. Padon, and died on June 23, 2023, Portales, New Mexico.

Betty moved to Causey, NM about the time she started school, with her parents and older brother Jere.  In about 1940, her parents Raymond and Temple Padon and grandparents Richard and Elizabeth Findley joined the Seventh -Day Adventist church after attending meetings in a big canvas tent, presented by a traveling evangelist in Causey.  The family moved to Portales so the children could attend the Seventh-Day Adventist Church school when Betty was in about 4th grade.  The Padon’s ran The Snow White Laundry in Portales and farmed West of town.

Johnnie’s family were Seventh-Day Adventists and Johnnie and his sister Mary Alice also attended the church school. Betty and Johnnie finished high school and married when she was 18 and he was 20.  Betty always said she felt like she had been married “all her life” as she didn’t remember much before she met Johnnie.

Betty enjoyed homemaking, gardening, crafts, sewing and taught 0-6 years old children at church for many years.  She helped with operating the farm in the Floyd community where they lived until 1995 and helped run the ranch in the Fort Sumner area until 2001 when they retired to Portales.  She and Johnnie owned and managed rental property in Portales for many years until her grandchildren took over that role.

She will be missed by her family and friends, who are looking forward to being with her again someday in heaven.

She is preceded in death by her grandparents, Richard and Elizabeth Findley and Bosslie Van and Lula B Padon; her parents, Raymond and Temple Padon; her brother Jere Padon, and her brother-in-law Spencer Gordon, who both passed away in 2010.

She leaves behind her husband Johnnie; her daughters, Beverly Helm and husband Mike, Delores Campbell and husband Rufus and Brenda Ryberg and husband Bruce; her grandchildren, Cindy Helm Tanner, Amanda Helm Tan and husband Brandon, Rebecca Ryberg Hamil and husband Whit, Kelly Ryberg Nordloh and husband David, Anna Campbell Briggs and husband Tyler, Audrey Campbell Watson and husband Tyler and Keith Ryberg, and her great grandchildren, Elliot Watson, Gavin Nordloh, Chase Nordloh, Waylon Hamil, Morgan Tanner, Jackson Watson, Minerva Tan, Liana Nordloh, Brice Nordloh and Emma Hamil

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