Joe Atkins, age 94, died Wednesday, December 31, 2014, at his home surrounded by loving family and friends.
Funeral Services will be held at 10:00 A.M. on Saturday, January 10, 2015 at the First Baptist Church in Roy, New Mexico with Joe’s nephew, Rev. Bill Marquis of Tustin, California, officiating. Burial will follow at Ute Creek Canyon on the family ranch. Arrangements are under the direction of Hass Funeral Directors of Clayton. Everyone is welcome to join the family for a meal at the Harding County Community Center following the burial.
Joe Atkins was born on August 28, 1920 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Hazel and Hugh Atkins. He graduated from Stillwater Oklahoma High School where he was a member of the State Championship Football Team in 1938. He was attending Oklahoma State University, studying Animal Science when World War II began. As many young men of the generation did, Joe joined the Marines and was assigned to the 1st Marines, 1st Division, 1st Regiment. Joe was wounded during the assault on Peleliu Island and was wounded a second time during the occupation of Okinawa. After the war, Joe moved to Levelland and was a roughneck in the oil fields of West Texas. He met Beth O’Neil and they were married on November 5, 1949. They moved to Hall County, Texas where Joe cowboyed and managed Bobcat Crossing Camp on the Mill Iron Ranch. On the day after Thanksgiving in 1950, they moved to Roy, New Mexico and began ranching in the Yates, New Mexico community. In 1974, Joe and Beth bought a ranch near Richland, Missouri. They ranched in Missouri for 5 years before retiring to their farming interests in Lamb and Hale County, Texas. Joe took great pleasure in working with the young people in all the communities he lived. He started and endowed the Ogle Hopkins Wrestling Endowment at the University of Missouri to provide scholarships for members of the University of Missouri Wrestling Team. Joe was instrumental in providing quality horses to the Oklahoma State University Equine Department and horse farm for the benefit of the students. He also took great interest in the Harding County Fair and bought 4-H animals at the livestock sale for decades to support the young people in the area. Joe was a member of numerous organizations over the years which included; New Mexico Mounted Patrol, New Mexico Cattlegrowers, AQHA, New Mexico Livestock Association, Oklahoma State University Foundation and Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, Texas. Joe liked nothing better than riding a good horse, working cattle with his children and neighbors. Joe loved his family, his community and his country. All-in-all, his was a life well lived. In addition to his parents, Joe was preceded in death by a sister; Lucille Marquis and a baby brother.
Joe is survived by his wife of 65 years; Beth O’Neil Atkins of Cotton Center, Texas, a daughter; Lenora Neil Atkins of Roy and Albuquerque, New Mexico, a son; Hugh Atkins of Phoenix, Arizona. Also surviving are nephews; Rev. Bill Marquis and his wife Suzi of Tustin, California and Dave Marquis and his wife Diane of Dallas, Texas, and other relatives and many friends.
The family extends it’s heartfelt gratitude to Joe’s friend and caretaker, Leonora Garza of Cotton Center, Texas, for her devotion, sense of humor and kindness.
MEMORIALS: Memorial Contributions in Joe’s memory may be made to the Harding County Fair Board, Care of Becky Smith, 155 Case Road, Mills, New Mexico 87730.
I have several fond memories of Joe and Beth while growing up in Roy, New Mexico. I remember Joe volunteering to help coach our football team during my senior year, especially the last few weeks of the season when the several had given up on the team. I also remember picking up bales of “hay” at his ranch. It was more sunflower stalks than hay. He taught me how to pull up the bales and avoid being bitten by the rattlesnakes underneath them.