Mylessa Lynn Denny

Services for De Baca County Deputy Sheriff Mylessa Lynn Denny will be held at 10am, Monday, July 21, 2014, at the Fort Sumner Schools Football Stadium. Mr. Lecil Richards will lead the services. Pallbearers will be Lt. Robbie Tejas, Deputy Scott Conner, NMSP Officer Jimmy Butterfield, Mike Scovel, Deputy Chris Steele, Calin Wood, Staff Sgt. Colter West, and Ritchie Rud. Honorary bearers will include Kevin Williams, Skyler Conway, Stephen Gallegos, Detective Roger Dial, all her many friends, fellow law enforcement officers and all those she served with in the military and those she came in contact with during her law enforcement career. Mylessa Lynn Denny 39, a resident of Fort Sumner, NM passed away suddenly on Tuesday, July 15, 2014 at Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis, NM. She was born October 15, 1974 in Salem, Arkansas to the home of Michael and Juanita Gaile (Wallezck) Denny. She grew up in the small community of Oxford, Arkansas where she attended school and graduated from Izard High School in 1993. She attended Arkansas State University on a Band Scholarship where she played the trumpet. Mylessa enlisted in the Arkansas National Guard for one year before enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1994. She was a Gulf War veteran and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, having served several tours overseas. She was honorably discharged from the Army in 2003 with the rank of Sergeant and received numerous citations, commendations, and awards during her military career. Following her honorable discharge, Mylessa attended the University of Maryland for one year before transferring to Texas State University in San Marcos, TX where she received her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Criminal Justice with a minor in Forensic Psychology. Mylessa made her home in Fort Sumner in 2011. She attended the Southeastern New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy in Hobbs, NM where she graduated with honors. She worked for Clovis Police Department for two years before joining the De Baca County Sheriff’s Department where she held the rank of Corporal. In March she won the Democratic primary election for De Baca County Sheriff. Mylessa attended the First Baptist Church, was a member of NM Sheriff’s Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars organization in Arkansas and the Disabled American Veterans. Mylessa loved the outdoors and spending time with her family, fishing, camping and hiking. Mylessa is preceded in death by her father, Michael Denny in 2012. Survivors include her partner, Christi Scovel, Christi’s children Codi Ann Scovel-Wood and Calin Wood of Fort Sumner, her mother Gaile Denny of Oxford, Arkansas, and a sister Lucinda Humelhans of Cherokee Village, Arkansas along with many other relatives, a host of friends, and many members in the law enforcement community. The family requests memorial contributions in Mylessa's memory to the Wounded Warrior’s Project, WoundedWarriorProject.org or Paws and Stripes, pawsandstripes.org. Arrangements are under the direction of Chavez Funeral Home, 830 N. Fifth Street, Fort Sumner, New Mexico (575) 355-2311. To place an online tribute or sign the guest book go to www.chavezfuneralhome.com