Funeral services for Susie L. Tivis, 101, of Portales, will be at 10:00 AM, Thurs., May 18, 2017 in the Wheeler Mortuary Chapel with Pastor Kelly Fulfer officiating. Burial will follow in the Portales Cemetery with grandsons, Duane Chase, Tim Tivis, Rodney Miller, Rick Miller, Kim Dewayne Tivis and Regi Corbin serving as pallbearers. The family of Mrs. Tivis also would like to thank the staff of Heartland Continuing Care Center for the loving care given to their mother. Her family will receive guests at the funeral home on Wed. evening, May 17, from 6 to 8 PM.
Susie Louise Tivis was born Jan. 24, 1916, in Duncan, OK to the home of Sarah Adeline (Galloway) and William Robert Emberson. This precious mother went to be with her Lord on Mother’s Day, May 14, 2017.
The family left Duncan when she was very small. They were working in the cotton fields in Bailey County, TX in 1931, when her future husband, Fate Tivis, saw her in his father’s field. He left his field, and went to work beside her in his dad’s field. They maintained their contact over the coming months, and on April 9, 1932 they were married in Portales. Mr. Tivis was a farmer as well as a Pentecostal minister and evangelist, and for most of their married life Portales and the Floyd area was their home.
Mrs. Tivis was an accomplished seamstress as well as an artist in oil paints. She loved to play games at the Senior Citizens Center.
She is survived by one son and daughter-in-law, Jerry and Cherry Tivis of Portales; four daughters and three sons-in-law, Virginia Stewart of Portales, Mary Helen and Webb Corbin of Lubbock, TX, Lavon and Johnny Chase of Clovis and Laveda and Boyd Miller of Portales; two daughters-in-law, Nancy (Mrs. JR) Tivis of Portales and Shirley (Mrs. Donny) Tivis of Wink, TX; nine grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren and 9 great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, four brothers, Grady, Homer, Ed and Bob, two sisters, Willie and Ruby, three sons, JR, Billy Ray and Donny Tivis, two great-grandchildren, Taylor and Trey Bilberry, and by her beloved husband, Fate Tivis, who died Oct. 19, 1983. The family will miss her, but will cherish a lifetime of wonderful memories. They can rejoice with her that she is with the Lord, her husband, three sons and other loved ones.