Memorial services were held Friday, Oct. 14, at Del Norte Baptist Church in Albuquerque for Josephine C. Mayberry.
Mayberry, 80, passed away at 8:44 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016, from complications following leukemia. Josie “Jo”
knew she would not survive her battle with this disease, but she knew she would be going home to be with her Lord when He was ready for her.
Interment will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, at South Park Cemetery in Roswell with Rev. Floyd Goodloe officiating.
Josie was born Aug. 23, 1936, in Enid, Okla., to Leo and Molly (Price) Thele, then moved shortly thereafter to Oklahoma City, where she lived and received her education.
In 1953, she married Jerry Haskins and moved to Roswell, where she had her five children.
A woman of many talents, Josie operated a bookkeeping and income tax business in Roswell and Capitan. She was an excellent seamstress who specialized in quilt making.
Many family members and friends consider the quilts she gave them lifelong tributes to pass down for generations to come.
In 2008, Josie, along with her daughter, Sandra, who was living in Roswell at the time, moved to Albuquerque and immediately found her church home at Del Norte Baptist Church. Josie joined the Red Hats and continued traveling, both on cruises and by car, until she became ill in 2009.
A special blessing to Josie was having her two grandsons live close by in Albuquerque. It made her day to have daily phone calls and texts saying “How are you doing?” and “I love you,” and Angie stopping by just to say “Hi!”
Survivors include her children and grandchildren, David and wife Irene of Bangor, Maine, Randy and Ramona of Aransas Pass, Texas, and his four children, Crystal, Michael, Sara and Eric Cargal, Sandra Crist of Albuquerque and her two sons, Robbie and David, Lisa Barrera and husband Louie of Artesia and their five children, Louie, Hoby, Adam, Susie and Jack, and Scott of Midland, Texas, and his three children, Angie, Terry and Ryan; stepdaughters Jan Mayberry and her children Shawna and Jerry, and Marilyn Mayberry, whom she loved as her own daughters; 28 greatgrandchildren with one more on the way in November; one greatgreatgrandchild; and brother Tony Thele and wife Kay of Fresno, Calif.
She was preceded in death by her parents and her former husband, M. Homer Mayberry, in 1988. Josie and Homer married in 1978 and she always said that he was the “love of her life!” He passed away two weeks after he retired and they had moved to Capitan. Josie was also preceded in death by husband Arthur “Art” Blazer in 2000. Josie married Art, whom she met at Trinity Baptist Church in Capitan. They traveled, as he was on the Board of Directors for Otero County Electric, so after meetings, they would visit the surrounding countryside. They loved their little church in the mountains and were very involved in it.
Josie told her pastor, Rev. Floyd Goodloe, “You married us, so you have got to bury us!”
Arrangements are under the direction of Anderson Bethany Funeral Home and Crematory of Roswell.
