Sammie Durham Ward, age 90, entered into her rest with the Lord in her home, as she so strongly desired, with her daughters, her niece and her caregiver by her side on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Visitation will be 3-7 p.m. Friday, May 22, 2009, at Denton-Wood Funeral Home. A graveside service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, May 23, 2009, at Carlsbad Cemetery with Associate Pastor Kevin Pence officiating. Denton-Wood Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.
Sammie was born July 28, 1918, in Norton, Texas, to Irvin and Ida Stevens Durham and lived much of her early life in small towns in west Texas and southeastern Oklahoma, attending elementary school in Randall, Texas, and high school in Wade, Okla., where she graduated as class salutatorian at age 16 and entered the depression-era workforce while holding the dream of one day attending college. She lived in Durant, Okla., during the late depression years and World War II working in a physician's office for a number of years. She met and married her husband, Vernon Ward, in Durant in 1941. She and Vernon moved to Carlsbad, N.M., in 1944, where they made their home until 1990, when they moved to Las Cruces, N.M., to be near their daughters, even though Carlsbad remained their place of the heart. She was a former member of the First Baptist Church of Carlsbad and was a member of the First Baptist Church of Las Cruces.
While living in Carlsbad, Sammie began working with the newly created Head Start program in 1966, and began to fulfill her lifelong dream of a college education by attending New Mexico State University at Carlsbad, studying business. In 1968, she accepted a position with the Civil Defense Office at the Eddy County Courthouse and in 1970, she began working at the Carlsbad Public Library as administrative assistant to Director Helen Melton, where she continued her college education through distance education classes with Loyola University of Chicago and the University of Utah. Upon completion of her librarianship course work, she successfully attained her State of New Mexico certifications for librarians and retired as the assistant director of the Carlsbad Public Library in 1986. She was a lifetime member of the Retired Public Employees of New Mexico and the New Mexico Library Association.
Her love of traveling began at the age of 2 weeks, when traveling by covered wagon with her family from Norton, Texas, to Rosebud, Texas. Later in her life, she had the opportunity to travel to Europe, Canada and much of the United States. She loved reading and beautiful music and filled her house with books and music. She was an avid consumer of current events, politics and history, an interest she carried with her until the end.
Sammie was preceded in death by her husband, Vernon; her parents; and her sisters: Beatrice London, Bernice Ticknor and Vera Hernandez. She is survived by her daughters: Sherry and Deborah; her sister, Wilma Basden of Bel Air, Texas; sisters-in-law: Billie Jean Shreve and Pauline Kidd of Durant, Okla.; and numerous beloved nieces and nephews.
Proverbs 31:26-28:
She opens her mouth with wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness
Is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up
And call her blessed.
Sammie was born July 28, 1918, in Norton, Texas, to Irvin and Ida Stevens Durham and lived much of her early life in small towns in west Texas and southeastern Oklahoma, attending elementary school in Randall, Texas, and high school in Wade, Okla., where she graduated as class salutatorian at age 16 and entered the depression-era workforce while holding the dream of one day attending college. She lived in Durant, Okla., during the late depression years and World War II working in a physician's office for a number of years. She met and married her husband, Vernon Ward, in Durant in 1941. She and Vernon moved to Carlsbad, N.M., in 1944, where they made their home until 1990, when they moved to Las Cruces, N.M., to be near their daughters, even though Carlsbad remained their place of the heart. She was a former member of the First Baptist Church of Carlsbad and was a member of the First Baptist Church of Las Cruces.
While living in Carlsbad, Sammie began working with the newly created Head Start program in 1966, and began to fulfill her lifelong dream of a college education by attending New Mexico State University at Carlsbad, studying business. In 1968, she accepted a position with the Civil Defense Office at the Eddy County Courthouse and in 1970, she began working at the Carlsbad Public Library as administrative assistant to Director Helen Melton, where she continued her college education through distance education classes with Loyola University of Chicago and the University of Utah. Upon completion of her librarianship course work, she successfully attained her State of New Mexico certifications for librarians and retired as the assistant director of the Carlsbad Public Library in 1986. She was a lifetime member of the Retired Public Employees of New Mexico and the New Mexico Library Association.
Her love of traveling began at the age of 2 weeks, when traveling by covered wagon with her family from Norton, Texas, to Rosebud, Texas. Later in her life, she had the opportunity to travel to Europe, Canada and much of the United States. She loved reading and beautiful music and filled her house with books and music. She was an avid consumer of current events, politics and history, an interest she carried with her until the end.
Sammie was preceded in death by her husband, Vernon; her parents; and her sisters: Beatrice London, Bernice Ticknor and Vera Hernandez. She is survived by her daughters: Sherry and Deborah; her sister, Wilma Basden of Bel Air, Texas; sisters-in-law: Billie Jean Shreve and Pauline Kidd of Durant, Okla.; and numerous beloved nieces and nephews.
Proverbs 31:26-28:
She opens her mouth with wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness
Is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up
And call her blessed.
Sammie Durham Ward, age 90, entered into her rest with the Lord in her home, as she so strongly desired, with her daughters, her niece and her caregiver by her side on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Visitation will be 3-7 p.m. Friday, May 22, 2009, at Denton-Wood Funeral Home. A graveside service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, May 23, 2009, at Carlsbad Cemetery with Associate Pastor Kevin Pence officiating. Denton-Wood Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.
Sammie was born July 28, 1918, in Norton, Texas, to Irvin and Ida Stevens Durham and lived much of her early life in small towns in west Texas and southeastern Oklahoma, attending elementary school in Randall, Texas, and high school in Wade, Okla., where she graduated as class salutatorian at age 16 and entered the depression-era workforce while holding the dream of one day attending college. She lived in Durant, Okla., during the late depression years and World War II working in a physician's office for a number of years. She met and married her husband, Vernon Ward, in Durant in 1941. She and Vernon moved to Carlsbad, N.M., in 1944, where they made their home until 1990, when they moved to Las Cruces, N.M., to be near their daughters, even though Carlsbad remained their place of the heart. She was a former member of the First Baptist Church of Carlsbad and was a member of the First Baptist Church of Las Cruces.
While living in Carlsbad, Sammie began working with the newly created Head Start program in 1966, and began to fulfill her lifelong dream of a college education by attending New Mexico State University at Carlsbad, studying business. In 1968, she accepted a position with the Civil Defense Office at the Eddy County Courthouse and in 1970, she began working at the Carlsbad Public Library as administrative assistant to Director Helen Melton, where she continued her college education through distance education classes with Loyola University of Chicago and the University of Utah. Upon completion of her librarianship course work, she successfully attained her State of New Mexico certifications for librarians and retired as the assistant director of the Carlsbad Public Library in 1986. She was a lifetime member of the Retired Public Employees of New Mexico and the New Mexico Library Association.
Her love of traveling began at the age of 2 weeks, when traveling by covered wagon with her family from Norton, Texas, to Rosebud, Texas. Later in her life, she had the opportunity to travel to Europe, Canada and much of the United States. She loved reading and beautiful music and filled her house with books and music. She was an avid consumer of current events, politics and history, an interest she carried with her until the end.
Sammie was preceded in death by her husband, Vernon; her parents; and her sisters: Beatrice London, Bernice Ticknor and Vera Hernandez. She is survived by her daughters: Sherry and Deborah; her sister, Wilma Basden of Bel Air, Texas; sisters-in-law: Billie Jean Shreve and Pauline Kidd of Durant, Okla.; and numerous beloved nieces and nephews.
Proverbs 31:26-28:
She opens her mouth with wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness
Is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up
And call her blessed.
Sammie was born July 28, 1918, in Norton, Texas, to Irvin and Ida Stevens Durham and lived much of her early life in small towns in west Texas and southeastern Oklahoma, attending elementary school in Randall, Texas, and high school in Wade, Okla., where she graduated as class salutatorian at age 16 and entered the depression-era workforce while holding the dream of one day attending college. She lived in Durant, Okla., during the late depression years and World War II working in a physician's office for a number of years. She met and married her husband, Vernon Ward, in Durant in 1941. She and Vernon moved to Carlsbad, N.M., in 1944, where they made their home until 1990, when they moved to Las Cruces, N.M., to be near their daughters, even though Carlsbad remained their place of the heart. She was a former member of the First Baptist Church of Carlsbad and was a member of the First Baptist Church of Las Cruces.
While living in Carlsbad, Sammie began working with the newly created Head Start program in 1966, and began to fulfill her lifelong dream of a college education by attending New Mexico State University at Carlsbad, studying business. In 1968, she accepted a position with the Civil Defense Office at the Eddy County Courthouse and in 1970, she began working at the Carlsbad Public Library as administrative assistant to Director Helen Melton, where she continued her college education through distance education classes with Loyola University of Chicago and the University of Utah. Upon completion of her librarianship course work, she successfully attained her State of New Mexico certifications for librarians and retired as the assistant director of the Carlsbad Public Library in 1986. She was a lifetime member of the Retired Public Employees of New Mexico and the New Mexico Library Association.
Her love of traveling began at the age of 2 weeks, when traveling by covered wagon with her family from Norton, Texas, to Rosebud, Texas. Later in her life, she had the opportunity to travel to Europe, Canada and much of the United States. She loved reading and beautiful music and filled her house with books and music. She was an avid consumer of current events, politics and history, an interest she carried with her until the end.
Sammie was preceded in death by her husband, Vernon; her parents; and her sisters: Beatrice London, Bernice Ticknor and Vera Hernandez. She is survived by her daughters: Sherry and Deborah; her sister, Wilma Basden of Bel Air, Texas; sisters-in-law: Billie Jean Shreve and Pauline Kidd of Durant, Okla.; and numerous beloved nieces and nephews.
Proverbs 31:26-28:
She opens her mouth with wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness
Is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up
And call her blessed.
Inscription
March 18, 1941 (date of marriage)
Gravesite Details
Sammie Allene Durham legally changed her middle name from "Allene" to "Arlene" in 1941. Many official records use "Sammie Arlene Durham".
