Jewell Eileen Wilson Wootton was born June 1, 1920, to Stephen Gerod and Jewell Lily Wilson at the Wilson Ranch, Chico Springs, Colfax County, NM.
She attended Wilson School, Kiowa School and Maxwell High School before graduating from Springer High School in 1937. That year she accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior.
After graduation Eileen became chief telephone operator in Springer and worked with her brothers at their service station in her off hours. There she met her future husband, Johnnie Wootton Jr., of Las Vegas, NM.
Eileen attended the 1940 Spring semester at a Fort Worth Bible school before Johnnie and she married in Raton on June 1, 1940. Together they lived in Cleveland, Springer, Lamy, and Las Vegas, NM.
Eileen dedicated her life to being a wife and mother and to helping others. She especially wanted others to personally know Christ’s salvation. For over 50 years she taught the Bible in Good News Clubs, Sunday school, VBS, Bible study groups, and Awana. Sunday mornings found her leaving for church early, in her VW bug; so she could pick up any she knew who needed a ride to church. She fed both souls and bodies and often carried meals or supplies to shut-ins.
For more than 30 years Eileen lived alone in their Las Vegas home after Johnnie’s death in 1976. In early 2007 she moved to the Four Corners area.
October 28, 2015, Eileen went to sleep in her bed in Durango, CO; sometime between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. she awoke in heaven.
Besides her husband, Eileen was preceded in death by her parents, all her grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, Johnnie’s siblings, and her own (James, Nona, Bob, Henry [Mary Frances], Edgar, Oscar, and Mary [Howard] Martin).
She is survived by her children: Judy and Armando Mendez, Janelle and Jack McQuitty, John and Kathy Wootton; her grandchildren: Jonathan, Samuel, and Nathan Mendez; Jack (Tammy) McQuitty, Stephen (Melody) McQuitty, Juanette (Andrew) Lewis, Patrick McQuitty, Daniel McQuitty; Wendy (Rob) Hollis, Sean (Juanita) Wootton, Jennifer (Adrian) Loera, Brooks (Stacy) Wootton; twenty great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. She is also survived by sisters-in-law Evelyn, Glenda, and Glenda Wootton, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be Saturday November 7, 2015 from 11:00 A.M. until 12:30 P.M. at the Yaksich-Long Funeral Home in Raton. Graveside services will be Saturday November 7, 2015 at 2:00 P.M. at the Maxwell City Cemetery with a short memorial service to follow at the Maxwell Baptist Church at 3:00 P.M.
Burial will be next to Johnnie and near several relatives and many friends in Maxwell (NM) Cemetery.
Arrangements and celebration of love for Jewell Eileen Wilson Wootton are under the direction of the Yaksich-Long Funeral Home of Raton.
