Graveside services for Retha Jones-Arnold, 89, of Portales will be held at 10:30 AM, in the Rest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery with Jon Forrest officiating. All of her grandchildren will serve as honorary pallbearers.
Retha Mae Jones-Arnold was born Dec. 8, 1929 in Dora, NM to the home of Daisy (Langford) and Cecil Miles Park, and died early Tues. morning, Oct 22, 2019 in Portales, NM. She grew up on the family farm south of Portales. On Sept. 1, 1947 in Clovis, she was married to William T. Jones. Mr. Jones preceded her in death on Sept. 30, 1959. As a young woman, Letha enjoyed going dancing. In the mid 1960’s she went to Austin, TX where she attended nursing school. Following her graduation as an LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse), she returned to Portales and began working at the local hospital. Later she worked at Heartland Continuing Care Center where she worked until her retirement in late 1990’s. In Dec. 1998 she was married to Hershel Arnold. Mrs. Jones-Arnold was a member of the Baptist Church.
She is survived by her husband, Hershel Arnold of Athens, TX; two sons, Royce Allen Jones of Odessa, TX and Timothy Lee and LaQuida Jones of Breckenridge, TX; a daughter, Cheryl Lynn and Lewis Reeves of Portales; six grandchildren, Jared (Shannon) Reeves, Joshua (Felicia) Reeves, Chelsea Reeves, Renee (R. P.) Johnson, Justin (Ashleigh) Jones and Eric (Tiffany) Jones; 13 great-grandchildren; and three sisters, Leota Fae Drake of Georgetown, TX, Bernita Carol Ullrich of Roswell, NM and Joyce Lynn Lowrey of Clovis, NM. Besides her husband, Mr. Jones, she was preceded in death by her parents and a brothers, Melvin Lee Park.
