Funeral services for Rosalee Johns, 94, of Portales will be held at 10:00 AM, Mon., Sept. 27, 2021 at First Baptist Church with Rev. Phillip Smith officiating. Burial will follow in the Portales Cemetery with Jim Davis, Stanley Jones, Chris Duncan, Brian Arnold, Eldin Cooper and David Bonner serving as pallbearers. All other deacons of First Baptist Church will serve as honorary pallbearers. Those desiring to make memorial contributions may send them to the New Mexico Baptist Children’s Home, PO Box 629, Portales, NM 88130.
Rosalee Norma Johns was born Jan. 16, 1927 in Hereford, TX to the home of Martha (Harrison) and Lynn Powelson and died on the morning of Sept. 22, 2021 in Clovis, NM. For much of her time at home, she lived with her father and step-mother in Progressive, TX north of Hereford. On Dec. 18, 1943 in Clovis, NM she was married to Eugene Johns. They moved to Portales in Mar. of 1949. Rose’s father had purchased a farm east of town, and they worked the farm paying half of the value of the crop as rent. In 1971, they were able to purchase the farm for themselves. Rose worked alongside Gene on the farm and helping with the large truck garden they raised, as well as rearing their four sons. She enjoyed sewing, and while their sons were at home she made many of their clothes as well as hers and Gene’s. At the time of her death, Rose had been a member of the First Baptist Church for 72 years.
In 1965, Rose went to work as a housekeeper at Eastern New Mexico University. She retired in 1989 after 24 years. She was a longtime member of the East Valley View Homemaker’s Club. In more recent years, Rosalee was an active member of the Roosevelt General Hospital Auxiliary.
She is survived by her four sons and three daughters-in-law, Randy Johns of Los Lunas, NM, Ronnie and Linda Johns of Portales, Charles and Teresa Johns of Cheyenne, WY and Lynndon and Rachael Johns of Houston, TX; eleven grandchildren, Tia (Caleb) Taylor, Heather Johns, Jessica Johns Schung and husband, Kyle, Kara (Jason) Gilbert, Paige (Jay) Manning, Braden Johns, Whitney (Raul) Sedillo, Jennie Johns, Kaleigh (Nick) Cox, Kelsey Johns and Grayson Johns; eleven great-grandchildren; and a sister, Cartha (Barry) Mawson of Colorado Springs, CO. She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, Delbert and Lynn Powelson, and by her husband, Gene who died June 22, 1992.
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