Virginia “Sue” (Hudnall) Harmon May 22, 1943 ~ November 16, 2023 (age 80)

Virginia Sue (Hudnall) Harmon May 22, 1943 – November 16, 2023

A grave-side service will be held at 10:30 AM, Sat., Nov. 25, 2023 in the House, NM cemetery, buried next to her husband Robert.  Dr. Kyle Bueermann will officiate, with Bob Harmon, Bryce Harmon, Jay Hammond, Jayson Hammond, Jeff Hammond, Caleb Miller and Nick Blackwood serving as pallbearers.

Virginia Sue Harmon, age 80 of Alamogordo, New Mexico passed away on November 16, 2023, at 7:35 pm at her daughter’s home.

The daughter of Harvey and Lois Faye Hudnall, Sue was born in the back seat of her parent’s car 7 miles outside of Dimmit, Texas on a rainy night. Their car stalled in a mud puddle on a dirt road during a heavy rainstorm on their way to the hospital. Her arrival made the headlines of the local newspaper.

Sue’s family moved around several times when she was a small girl, to Lazbuddie, Plainview, Salem, and Happy, Texas where her father pastored some small churches. Sue was the third of four children in her family, highly unlikely she was ever lonely. During her life in Texas, Sue was baptized by her father in a new stock tank that was put outside the church and filled with water to heat up in the sun. She and her siblings helped the family by picking cotton in the hot sun for 50 cents a bag.

The family moved to House, NM in 1955, Sue was in the 5th grade. She played softball, basketball and volleyball there, as well as meeting the love of her life and future husband. She graduated from House High School in 1961 and completed a medical assistant course in March 1962 in Denver CO. She was engaged to her high school sweetheart, Robert Harmon, between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 1961 with a bailing wire ring that Robert made, and they married April 22, 1962, in House, NM, with a new ring. They honeymooned in a borrowed camping trailer at Ft. Sumner Lake.

Sue and Robert made their home in Portales where Sue worked in a photography studio, a doctor’s office, and Steiner Elementary School as an aide and then secretary for many years. God continued to guide Sue throughout her life and she and Robert produced three splendid children and raised them to be kind, caring, loving, hard-working and successful people. The family was very involved in their church in Portales. All three kids were also members of the Portales Ram band which also kept Sue busy. She helped with fund raising, sponsored rock-a thons, accompanied the band on out-of-town trips, and helped organize banquets and host parties in their basement. Besides working and raising her kids, Sue continually sought out ways to express her artful talents. She started crafting Christmas gifts and eventually she created her own company called “Handmade by Harmons” and set up booths at many craft fairs to sell her beautifully crafted items. She also created many fancy cakes including some beautiful wedding cakes. She wrote many poems for friends and family and cross- stitched many of them.

Sue truly knew how to be a friend. She cared deeply for so many people and enjoyed doing things for others. She had many close friends throughout her life and loved spending time with them and sharing adventures with them.

A friend from school wrote:

She was the creator of the Courtesy Committee for Steiner Elementary.  I don’t know if the other schools had this going yet, but we had THE best and most organized Care Team in all of Portales!  Every year a team of teachers/staff would be assigned to serve as the Sunshine Club.  One of the most important tasks was designing and creating a special handmade Christmas ornament for each year.  As I decorate my Christmas tree every year, I still hang my ornaments, some that are now 40 years old very carefully and I think about Sue and the fun we had all those years ago. She may not know it but she helped me so much as a young teacher, mother, and wife.  This Christmas when I take out my ornaments, I will be especially grateful for this remarkable woman I loved, admired, and called my friend! I will remember her wit, her sense of humor, her creativity, and her infectious laugh!  She taught me through her words, actions, and mostly kind deeds she was concocting to do for others!

Sue wrote in a book for her grandkids “I loved being a mom and doing things for them. I wanted them to grow up to be good adults-and they have done that. I am so proud of all three of my children and so proud of their accomplishments. If I could do only one thing over, it would be to tell them more often how much I loved them and how proud I am of them.”

Sue loved holidays and decorated enthusiastically! She spent hours cooking elaborate meals, and spending as much time as possible playing games and just being together. One of her fondest memories that she wrote about was the last Christmas we had in Portales. All the kids and grandkids were there, and the grandkids made a scavenger hunt for Granny instead of her making one for them. She loved laughing and watching the kids enjoy being together, playing, laughing, and making wonderful memories.

Sue loved life and lived it well. She spread love to everyone she knew. She also knew God’s love and that someday she would be in His loving arms. We miss you Sue, we also know that you are surrounded by infinite love, and we will see you again.

Sue is preceded in death by her parents, Harvey and Lois Faye Hudnall, her brother, Wayne Hudnall, her husband, Robert Harmon, and a granddaughter, Rachel Harmon.  Sue and Robert’s bond was so strong that Sue passed only 9 months after losing him.

She is survived by her son Bob Harmon and wife Ronda of Los Alamos, NM, daughter Brenda Hammond and husband J of Alamogordo, NM, and son Bryce Harmon and wife Darla of Ripon, CA. She has four grandchildren, Jayson Hammond from White Rock, NM, Jeff Hammond from Murfreesboro, TN, Kayci Miller from White Rock, NM, and Michelle Blackwood from Ripon, CA. She has five great-grandchildren, Libby and Matty Hammond from Murfreesboro, TN, and Rylee, Luke, and Jake Miller from White Rock, NM.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Virginia “Sue” (Hudnall) Harmon, please visit our floral store.