Obituary
Graveside funeral services will be held for Billie Mae Tollett, 92, of Portales at 2:00 P.M., Sat. Feb. 27, 2021 in the Inez Cemetery with various family members officiating. Steve Campbell, Scott Phillips, Leslie Tollett, Joe Harth, Alan Belcher and Wendell Belcher will serve as pallbearers.
Billie Mae Tollett was born Mar. 14, 1928 in Foss, OK to the home of Buelah Ruth (Brown) and William Wesley Rouse and died on the evening of Feb. 22, 2021 in Portales. The family moved to Roosevelt county when she was a young girl. She attended school in Dora and Rogers. On Feb. 20, 1944 in Elida, she was married to Wayne Tollett. They made their home in the Rogers community where they farmed and ranched. Billie loved to ride horses. She was an accomplished seamstress, and sewed all her children’s clothes. In addition she enjoyed quilting and doing embroidery. Through the years, she had made quilts for all of her grandchildren as well as for many other family members and friends. Every year she had a huge garden and canned and froze the produce to feed her family. Billie didn’t just feed her own household. She often prepared meals to feed the minister and other church and community members.
Both Billie and Wayne were very active in the Dora Baptist Church. She loved to study the Bible, and had taken all of the Precept on Precept classes. When no one else would take the Junior High School Boys Sunday School class, Billie stepped up to the task. She loved them, and those boys loved her. In addition to church, she served as a 4-H leader. Billie loved people, and really enjoyed young people. She was faithful to attend all of her children’s and as many of her grandchildren’s ballgames and events as she could possibly make.
She is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, Dennis and Colleen Tollett of Inez, NM; two daughters and sons-in-law, Linda and Larry Miller of Ruidoso, NM and Donna and Steve King of Portales; seven grandchildren, Jenice Allen, Sharon Stephenson, Greg (Gina) Nesmith, Jolene (Chris) McDermott, Kolby (Luli) Tollett, Caleb King and Jalissa King; as well as nine great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, a brother, W. T. Rouse; two sisters, Dana Roulain and Dorothy Newman and by her beloved husband, Wayne who died June 25, 2013.
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