Elmer Vance Wilson

Funeral services will be held at 10:00 AM, Tuesday, July 6, 2010 from the First Baptist Church with Rev. Nathan Lawrence officiating. Burial with Military Honors will follow at Fort Sumner Cemetery. Elmer Vance Wilson, 82, of Ft Sumner died July 1, 2010 at his home in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico. Elmer was born on January 1, 1928 to Vance Henry Wilson and Genola (Jackson) Wilson the sixth of nine children. He attended Ft. Sumner Schools. As a young man Elmer and his brothers and sisters, all children of the depression, worked on the family farm to help support the family through those tough times. Once old enough Elmer enlisted in the U. S. Army and served in post-war Europe in 1946 and 1947, upon his return to Ft. Sumner he went to work for Santa Fe Railroad. While working for AT&SF in 1947, Elmer met and courted Marie Thomas whom he married on April 3, 1948. He worked for Santa Fe for one more year and then quit to work for his parents. He worked for them for a short period of time and then was employed on George Farrier Farms for a couple of years. He then worked for City Gas delivering propane to customers in the De Baca County area for several years before going to work for J. T. West at West Refrigeration and Electric. Elmer and Marie opened Wilson Electric in Ft. Sumner in March of 1978 and continued the business until shortly before his death. Elmer loved baseball and coached his sons’ Little League and Pony League teams for ten years. He enjoyed hunting and fishing, and especially enjoyed traveling to Ohio to deer hunt with his older brother Howard. Elmer was preceded in death by his parents, sisters Frances Wilson Propps, Lucille (Johnson) Taylor and his brother Fayne C. Wilson. Elmer is survived by his wife Marie Wilson of the home in Fort Sumner; sons Daniel Wilson and wife Veola of Drummonds TN, Donald Wilson and wife Martha of Riverbank, CA and daughter Joan Gonzales and husband Jerry of Ft. Sumner. Grandchildren are Dahna Barleben, Melissa Barber, Daniel Wilson, Lee Wilson, Mary Wilson, Kathryn Wilson-Garcia, Alisha Gonzales, and Jerrica Gonzales. There are also four great grandchildren Kalilla and Augustine Garcia, Jeremiah Wilson and Christian Barleben. He is also survived by sisters Lora Cox of The Dalles, Oregon; Jene Morris, Ft. Sumner NM; Ida Barclay, Texico, NM; sister-in-law Maxine Wilson of Roswell, and brothers Howard Wilson of Columbia Station, Ohio and David Wilson of Williamsburg, NM as well as numerous nieces and nephews. All arrangements are under the direction of Chavez Funeral Home, 830 North Fifth Street; Ft Sumner, NM (575) 355-2311. To place an online tribute or sign the guest book, please visit www.chavezfuneralhome.com.