Ruth Evelyn (Shackelford) “Sue” Durham December 4, 1942 ~ October 4, 2024 (age 81)

Memorial services for “Sue” Durham, 81, of Portales, will be held at 10:00 AM, Sat., Oct. 12, 2024 at Central Christian Church with Pastor Don Thomas officiating.  Burial will follow in the Portales Cemetery.  Pat and Dudley Cash, Nina Fondy, and Doris Tarver along with the caring staffs of Wheatfield Senior Living Community, the Bee Hive, the Farwell Nursing and Rehab Center, as well Portales Municipal Schools have been named as honorary pallbearers.

Ruth Evelyn Durham, known to everyone as “Sue,” was born Dec. 4, 1942 in Hobart, OK in the home of Ada Bernice (Cleal) and Ray Franklin Shackelford, and passed from this life on the morning of Oct. 4, 2024 in Farwell, TX.  Sue graduated from high school in Carnegie, OK in 1960.  She went on to attend college one year at Southwest Oklahoma University.  The following fall, she came to stay with her aunt and uncle, Evelyn and Bud Shackelford and began attending Eastern New Mexico University.  During her college years, she met Marshall Durham, and they were married at Second Street Church of Christ in Portales, on June 13, 1964.  Throughout her lifetime, Sue was a devout Christian and a devoted member of the Church of Christ.

In the fall of 1964, she began her teaching career in Farwell, TX.  Morris Wood, the principal at L. L. Brown Elementary School in Portales, hired her to teach third grade beginning in the fall of 1965.  Sue continued to teach in the Portales system for 31 years.  After retiring in New Mexico, she returned to the classroom in Muleshoe, TX for a few more years, and then finally taught at Barry Elementary in Clovis until she retired completely in 2001 after 37 years in the classroom.

Sue loved to read books of all sorts, but especially her Bible.  In addition, she liked to work word puzzles, play card games, the game of marbles and Rumi Kube with family and friends.  She had a huge collection of roosters of all sorts.  Sue was also an avid traveler.  She took numerous bus trips with King’s Highway.  She had stepped foot in every state except Delaware.  In addition, Sue traveled extensively internationally, having visited England, Scotland, Ireland, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, New Zealand and Australia.

She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Keith and Melissa Durham of Clovis, NM; two grandchildren, Pacen Hartley and Naci Durham; two brothers, Larry Shackelford of Enid, OK and Frankie Shackelford of Mustang, OK; and two sisters, Norma Felatar of Carson City, NV and Patricia Cantu of Hesperia, CA.  Sue was preceded in death by her mother, father, and step-mother, four brothers, Robert, Bill, Jimmy and Terry Shackelford, and by her husband, Marshall Durham on April 22, 2012 after more than 47 years of marriage.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Christian Childrens’ Home or the Baptist Childrens’ of Portales, NM.

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