LaWanda (Borden) Calton, passed from this life on February 18, 2021. She was born in Clovis, NM, September 23, 1939, the first child of R.L. and Ola Borden. Her siblings are Jan Purvis, Bob Borden, and Marilyn Rigsby.
She graduated from Portales High School in 1957, and later that year married her high school sweetheart, Bill Calton. They had two daughters, Kim and Sandy. She was a member of the Southside Church of Christ in Portales.
LaWanda was amazingly creative. She baked the best pies without using recipes, designed her own houses, sewed her daughters’ wedding gowns without needing patterns, planted beautiful gardens and loved to imagine she was directing movies. Obviously, her greatest talent was painting. As a small child she delighted friends and family with her ability to draw horses. She became a well known and respected artist, teaching hundreds of students during her career with lessons in her own home studio, and at workshops and demonstrations throughout New Mexico and Texas. She held a paintbrush in her hand almost every single day of her life, painting and selling countless works of art which hang in homes and businesses all over America. Her most fulfilling years as an artist were spent in Taos, living for over ten years among the mountains, adobes, sage brush and lilacs she loved to paint.
It should be said that LaWanda loved animals. Her favorite was her sweet little poodle companion, Dusty. Of all her children, he was spoiled the most.
Her daughters and their families live on to enjoy the memories of their beautiful “Gammy”. Kim’s family lives in Sugar Land, Texas. Her husband is Mark Mann, and they have three children, Bill, Katie and Lizzie. Bill and his wife Anna Lee have one child, Caleb. Katie and her husband Mitchell Howell have four children, Cora, Olivia, Sophia and Max. Sandy’s husband is Gary Fields, and they live in Portales.
The family has held a private memorial service.
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