Obituary of Wanda Kimbell

Wanda "Colleen" Kimbell November 28, 1931 - July 01, 2016 A Celebration of Life for Wanda Colleen Bennett Kimbell will be held at Third and Central Church of Christ on Thursday, July 7, at 2:00 pm with Dr. David Lough of Canyon, Texas and David Stewart of Lovington officiating. Burial will follow at Lovington Cemetery. Visitation will be held on Wednesday, July 6, 2016 from noon until 8:00 pm with the family in residence at the funeral home from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm. Arrangements are under the direction of Kirby-Smith-Rogers Funeral Home. Wanda Colleen Bennett was born on November 28, 1931. She passed away at Covenant Hospital in Lubbock, Texas on July 1, 2016. She was the third of five children born to Marshall Hillride (“Sunk”) Bennett and Mabel Pauline (Lee) Bennett in their home on the family farm located 5 miles southwest of Brownfield, Texas in the Needmore community. She attended grade school at Needmore, Union, Brownfield, and Meadow, Texas, and high school at Meadow and at Lovington, New Mexico. She graduated from Lovington High School in 1949. Colleen married Rayworth Ellis Kimbell in Lovington, New Mexico at Third and Central Church of Christ on June 20, 1960. She was employed by Jack Jackson of Higginbotham Bartlett Lumber Company as a bookkeeper; L. Dene Stephens of Lea County Abstract Company; Bluitt Cotton of Cotton Distributing Company; Kathleen Cone of GMC Company; and the Kathleen Cone Estate for a total of approximately 48 years. She retired in 2000. Colleen was baptized at Meadow Church of Christ while in early high school and was a member of Third and Central Church of Christ for approximately 69 years. She had a beautiful alto voice and sang in a group at funerals, weddings, and “singings,” at Lovington and at other churches in the area and at family gatherings. She was a Bible teacher of young children. She was also an avid bowler during her younger years; she and her husband were in a couples’ bowling league, and she also bowled with a women’s league that competed in the state tournament in 1975. She had a wonderful, quick sense of humor and loved to laugh. She loved her family and many friends and enjoyed having them in her home for special meals of her delicious home-cooked food. She especially enjoyed raising her son, Bennett. She was preceded in death by her parents; an infant son, Joel Ray Kimbell; her husband of 40 years; two infant brothers, Paul Douglas and Douglas Marshall Bennett; one brother, Cloyce Daniel Bennett; and a nephew, Jerry Michael Lynch. Colleen is survived by her son, Bennett Ray Kimbell, and his wife, Jenni, of Lubbock, Texas; her sister, Charlotte Dephane Lynch, of Lovington, New Mexico;and numerous nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in her memory to New Mexico Children’s Home, 1356 New Mexico 236, Portales, NM 88130-9411.