Juanita Berniece Ellibee

Obituary for Juanita Berniece Ellibee “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” 1 Nephi 3:7 Our dear mom, Juanita Berniece Ellibee, has peacefully passed away Aug 16, 2023. Anita has joined her eternal companion of 57 years, Donald Evan Ellibee; her son, David Russell Ellibee; her dad, Earl Barrett; her mother and stepdad, Dee and John Huston Fincher, all of her brothers and sisters but 4; and various other friends and family that have been watching and waiting for her. She is survived by her sisters, Betty Wilson and Kathy Benson, and brothers Corky Jr and Ken Fincher, and her children listed below. Anita was born in Wheatland, Wyoming, on June 9, 1943. Anita was in the middle to end of 13 siblings altogether. She and her younger twin brothers, Bill and Bud, would spend hours outside in the sun chasing each other around the place. Whatever Nita was afraid of, they would make sure that it would end up in her bed that night. She learned how to walk on stilts around age 9 and would use them to get away from her little brothers. Betty was 7 years younger than Nita, and they were the best of sisters. Nita was a tease. She would tell Betty not to get out of bed in the night to go use the bathroom, so she wouldn’t get grabbed by what was under the bed. She loved to read and romance was her favorite kind of book. She met the love of her life, Don Ellibee, a Navy sailor from Parma, Idaho, on a Greyhound bus one summer when going to spend the summer with her dad. Her very favorite love story began that very day. Once they were married, she put her heart and soul into creating a good life worth living with Don and their four children. They were sealed for Time and All Eternity December 17, 1981, in the Mesa, Arizona temple. Anita loved her family. Her children were the focus of her days. She had a garden for many years and would fill her shelves with jars of her canning and her table with her rhubarb pies. She was often in a bowling league, a talent she learned from her Mother; well, all of us learned to bowl from Grandma Fincher. Nita loved nature and would recreate beautiful flowers, birds, and butterflies in salt clay and place them on cholla wood or a piece of cedar to display. She surrounded herself with beautiful and simple things from nature, hummingbirds, flowers, pretty rocks, and seashells. Dad would often go on daily walks with her. Camping wasn’t her favorite thing, but she would go because her family and friends would be there, and she wanted to be with them that much. Anita served faithfully in her church congregation. Her testimony of Heavenly Father and of His son, Jesus Christ, and of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was known by those in her midst. She served as Cub Scout leader, Primary president, Young Women’s president, Relief Society president, a teacher and counselor to many, and as librarian, but her favorite calling was a primary teacher to the 7+8 year-old children. She loved watching their little testimonies of Jesus grow and would attend each of their baptisms. Her faith was foundational to the growth of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the East Mountain area and the Estancia Valley. Anita has a vast posterity that all love her dearly. She is the loving mother of Richard James (Karen Bernice) Ellibee, of Lawton, Oklahoma, David Russell Ellibee, SheilaJo (Mark Allen) McBryant, of Bell Buckle, Tennessee, and Nicole Ellibee (Kurtis Louis) Brown of Pleasant Grove, Utah. Proud grandma of Jessica Shannon (Sean) Curran, Ryan Curtiss Ellibee, Hannah Nicole Alexander, Richard Seth (Kaitlyn Nicole) Alexander, Joshua Kurtis (Aziza Abdieva) Brown, Manuel Evan David Alexander, Ethan Cougar (Josie Dannielle) Brown, Aundrea Nicole (Quinton) Downs, Lillian Emma Isobel Alexander, Kaden Drew Brown, Santana LeNora Alexander and Peyton Tolen Brown. And even prouder great-grandma of Shannon Rylie and Hannah Claire Curran, Eli Gavin, McKenzie Nicole, Roman Ty, Maddox Bentley and Christopher Adam, Jr. Blackman, Emma Isabelle Henderson, Stevie Isobel Alliene Maynard, Evan Joann Alexander, and Evan Daniel Brown. Anita always gave the best advice on how to raise kids. You knew her values by the way she lived her life. She would spend hours each month ministering to those in need, often driving hundreds of miles to visit sisters and families in this valley. She lived a life of gratitude in her circumstances, whatever they may have been. She loved hard, and she loved fiercely. She always liked looking you in the eye when talking with you. She didn’t mince words. She spoke her heart and wanted you to know that she loved you. “No running in the hallway” was always followed by an “I love you.” To know her was to love her. Anita loved everyone in her family. It didn’t matter if you were hers or theirs; she would welcome you. Dinner around the table was how she raised her family. Her homemade beef noodles are divine and a good enough reason to come home any time. She spent her career doing many things. She worked at Moriarty Schools, where her children attended, she drove a school bus for a number of years, and she also worked as a rural mail carrier and delivered mail on the back roads of the East Mountains until she retired in 2015. Driving was her thing. Anita has been known to drive to Albuquerque, sometimes daily, to work at the Albuquerque, New Mexico temple. She enjoyed the patrons there and loved doing her part to gather Israel. She was able to touch many lives. Her smile was contagious and she was always up for a “quick” visit to catch up on how you were doing, whether it was at the store, in the hallway at church, or at the mailbox on a dirt road. Services will be held August 26, 2023, with viewing at 10 am and funeral at 11 am at the Estancia Valley Classical Academy, 110 State Hwy 344 Independence Hall. East parking lot. Interment to follow at Stanley Cemetery, 3947 NM-41 Stanley, New Mexico. We appreciate the prayers, calls, texts, meals, a place to rest, airplane rides, and chats with all of you who have loved our Ellibee family so well these last 45 years, as we’ve called this mountain our home. Your love and friendship have helped make it a sacred place. Mailing address change for the Ellibee household: 26 Skyview Rd. Edgewood, NM 87015