Obituary: Wenonah Hunton

Closed casket services for Wenonah Hunton, 94, of Portales, will be held at 10:00 AM (MST) on Fri., Dec. 15, 2023 in the Wheeler Mortuary Chapel with Pastor Don Thomas officiating. Burial will be in the Lazbuddie Cemetery in Lazbuddie, TX at 2:30 PM (CST) with Jason Hunton, Troy Don Teston, Paul Hunton, Matt Hunton, Payton Hunton and Tre Hunton serving as pallbearers. Those desiring to make memorial contributions may send them to the New Mexico Christian Children's Home, 1356 NM236, Portales, NM 88130.

Wenonah Jean Hunton, known to family and friends as "Nona," was born Jan. 28, 1929 in Maud, OK to the home of Irene Marie (Gammon) and Arthur Garvin "A.G." Thorn, and passed from this life on the morning of Dec. 9, 2023 in Friona, TX. Her family moved to Lazbuddie, TX when she was a small child. She was a 1947 graduate of Lazbuddie High School. Soon after graduating, she began commuting to Portales to attend Eastern New Mexico University, where she studied Secretarial Science and Accounting. She later moved to Portales, and through mutual friends was introduced to Carroll Hunton. The couple was married in Lazbuddie on Feb. 6, 1956.

They made their home in Portales, and together they owned and operated the local Credit Bureau. In 1969, the family moved to Albuquerque. During the time she was there, Mrs. Hunton was the secretary to the Assistant Principal at Highland High School. In 1976, they moved back to the area, making their home first in Clovis and later in Portales. When her husband's health began to fail, they moved to Farwell to live. She remained there until 2009 when she returned to Portales.

Throughout her lifetime, she did accounting and bookkeeping for various family businesses. Her true love was history and genealogy. She was constantly doing family research, and had traced the family lines of both her family and that of her husband's to prior to the founding of our country. She had discovered lines tracing from England and Ireland, and including such notables as George Washington.

Because of her deep love for history, she was very active in the Daughters of the American Revolution, and also served as the Sate Sponsor for Children of the American Revolution. In her many years of research, she had gone to the Library of Congress and the Mormon Library in Salt Lake City, as well as visiting countless cemeteries across the country. She instilled a deep sense of patriotism and faith in all of her family, as well as in countless other young people. In exercising her personal faith in God, she was a devoted student of the Bible, and a member of the Third and Kilgore Church of Christ. Mrs. Hunton had a sharp mind, and kept track of countless minor details. Through all of her life experiences, both good and bad, she kept a positive attitude and a bright smile.

Mrs. Hunton is survived by two sons and daughters-in-law, Tom and Edna Hunton of Bakersfield, CA and David and Tammy Hunton of Portales; ten grandchildren, Lori (Larry) Comunale, Jason (Jennifer) Hunton, Ryan Hunton, Troy Don Teston, Paul (Laura) Hunton, Matt (Sara) Hunton, Casey (Brandon) Villa, Chase Hunton, Chelsey (Devin) Hanson and Lexi (J.P.) Richmond; 16 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by both of her parents, two daughters, Mary Jane Bowman who died in 2002 and Elaine Hunton who died in 2004, a grandson, Shawn Hunton who died in 2018, and by her husband, Carroll, who died Feb. 5, 2005 after only one day short of 49 years of marriage.

Arrangements are under the direction of Wheeler Mortuary of Portales. 575-356-4455, wheelermortuary.net