Juanita Frances (Caldwell) Byrd

A celebration of life will take place for Juanita Frances Byrd, age 85, of Brownfield, Texas at 11:00 AM, Thursday, February 1, 2018 at Ellis Funeral Home Chapel in Muleshoe with Steve Carter of Brownfield officiating. Burial will be in Muleshoe Memorial Park. A reception will follow at the First Baptist Church in Farwell, Texas. Juanita went to be with our Lord on January 28, 2018. She passed away peacefully in Brownfield where she had resided for 14 years. She was born April 7, 1932 in Cement, Oklahoma to Conner and Ellen (Thomas) Caldwell. She married Gorman D. Byrd in Norman, Oklahoma on August 24, 1956
Juanita graduated from Muleshoe High School before receiving her BS in education from Oklahoma University in 1956. She taught Sunday School for 56 years and served on the advisory board of the Salvation Army. Juanita performed missionary field work in Guadalajara, Mexico; San Jose, California; and Tucson, Arizona as well as delivering Meals on Wheels for many years. She also taught public school at La Casita Elementary in Clovis, New Mexico for 4 years. Her most beloved years were spent being a farmers wife and attending church in Clovis, New Mexico. Juanita was a devoted Christian, mother and wife, and will be deeply missed by all whose lives she touched. She is preceded in death by her husband, Gorman; her parents; her sister, Dorothy Leathers; and her four brothers, Earnest Caldwell, Lee Caldwell and Glenn Caldwell.
Juanita is survived by her two sons, Steven Byrd and his wife, Olivia of Albuquerque, New Mexico and Neal A. Byrd of Brownfield, Texas; and her two sisters, Edith Bean of Brownfield, Texas and Jewell Long of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Online condolences may be made at www.ellisfuneralhomes.com