Funeral services for Louella “Lou” Tivis, 93, of Portales, will be at 10:00 AM, Mon., Feb. 18, 2019 in the Wheeler Mortuary Chapel with Dr. David McFadden officiating. Burial will follow in the Portales Cemetery with Billy Byrd, Lester Byrd, Garland Creighton, Gene Creighton, Joe Garcia, Roy Tivis, Rodney Tivis and Shawn Wood serving as pallbearers. The family would like to express special thanks the staff of Heartland Continuing Care Center and to her hospice nurse, Brenda Searcy.
Neoma Luella Roberts-Tivis, known to family and friends alike as “Lou,” was born June 23, 1925, in Sayre, OK to the home of Ethel Franklin Sanders and Jacob Arch Sanders and died Feb. 15, 2019 in Portales, NM. The family moved from Sayre to Rana, NM where they had a homestead. Later they moved to Dora. After the death of her first husband she enrolled in California Baptist College where she earned her degree in Elementary Education and Sociology. She taught school for 5 years in California before moving back to Portales where she taught at Steiner Elementary for an additional two years. Lou taught a total of 29 years in numerous locations. After her retirement, Lou and her sister, Esther Brooks served as missionaries in England.
On July 8, 1994 in Capitan, NM she was married to Virgil Tivis. They lived in Capitan for two years before moving to Portales. The remainder of her life was spent in Portales, where she was a member of the First Baptist Church.
She is survived by a step-son and daughter-in-law, Roy and Lewetta Tivis of Portales; a step-daughter, Pat Shearer of Portales; nine grandchildren, twelve great-grandchildren and 4 great-great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews including Mila and Joe Garcia of Portales. She was preceded in death by her parents, three brothers, Willie A. Sanders, Andy Sanders and Ray Sanders, three sisters, Leota Kingston, Esther Chun and Josephine Byrd, two grandsons, Dustin Shearer who died in 2002 and Chad Stroud who died in 2018 and her step-son-in-law, Dickie Shearer who died Jan. 10, 2019.
Wheeler Mortuary
500 E Third St. P O Box 116
Portales, New Mexico, United States
Phone: 575-356-4455
