Joe Don Sursa

Services for longtime cowboy, Joe Don Sursa, 66 of Fort Sumner will be held at 2pm Friday, January 9, 2015 from the Chavez Funeral Home Chapel in Fort Sumner with Rev. Billy Paul Vinson and Mark McCollum officiating. Pallbearers will include Roy Gibson, Francisco Torres, Casey Pope, Diego Morales, Jacob Vick, Ignacio Soto, Joe Derrick, Willie Spitz, Emmet Sultemeier, and Carrol Jack Lewis. Joe passed away Tuesday morning, January 6, 2015 at his Fort Sumner home following an illness. He was born August 31, 1948 in Childress, Texas to the home of Wendell Wesley Sursa and the former Miriam Anne Thomas. He grew up on the JA Ranch in Clarendon, Texas. He attended school in Clarendon. Joe was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam. He married Belinda Vinson on December 22, 1971 in Guthrie, Texas. They made their home on the Pitchfork Ranch in Guthrie from 1971 to 1991. In 1991 they made their home at the Double V Ranch south of Fort Sumner where Joe was the ranch foreman. He "retired" in August 2014 and they moved into Fort Sumner. Joe has always been a cowboy and loved the ranch life, he was a longtime member of the De Baca County Ranch Rodeo Committee, and loved to team rope with his many friends.When his family was asked what Joe did when he was not working, his family says "when he wasn't working, he talked about what work needed to be done". Joe is preceded in death by his parents, and two grandchildren Tyrel Joe Derrick in 2014, and Karson Mesquite Ann Lambert in 2007. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend. He will be missed by his wife Belinda Sursa of the home in Fort Sumner, a daughter Stacie Jo Lambert and husband Lance of Carlsbad, and a son Casey "Tibbs" Sursa and wife Lydia of Fort Sumner, four grandchildren Emil "L.T." Sursa, and Skyler Sursa, of Fort Sumner, Cayden Lambert and Kailey Lambert of Carlsbad. Also surviving are three siblings, a sister Jerrie Shields of Lee Lake, Texas and two brothers Junior Sursa and wife Debbie of Memphis, TX, and Tommy Sursa of Hereford, TX, along with several nieces, nephews, other relatives and a host of friends. All arrangements are under the direction of Chavez Funeral Home, 830 N. fifth Street, Fort Sumner, NM. (575) 355-2311.