Montezuma County CO Archives Obituaries.....Willis, Selma Oveson April 17, 2003
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Tom Vaughn wr@fone.net  April 19, 2003


Selma Oveson Willis

Funeral services for longtime Mancos resident Selma Oveson Willis 
will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 22, at the Mancos Church of      
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Interment will follow at the Webber 
Cemetery. Bishop Melvin Horrocks will officiate. A visitation is 
scheduled for 9 a.m. before the service at the Mancos LDS Church.

Born July 25, 1919, in St. Johns, Ariz., to David Patton Oveson Jr. and 
Neva (Sherwood) Oveson, Selma was the oldest of five children. She 
passed away quietly Thursday, April 17, 2003, at her home in Mancos 
at the age of 83.

Her early life was spent in St. Johns and Whiteriver, Ariz. where 
she attended elementary school, and high school in Snowflake, Ariz.     
On September 25, 1935 in Mesa, Ariz. at the Mesa Temple, Selma married 
her high school sweetheart, Van A. Willis.

During World War II she and Van lived and worked at Aberdeen Proving 
Ground, Md. After the war ended, Van and Selma settled on a ranch near 
Bayfield.

They moved to Mancos in 1959 where they owned and operated the 
Boy’s Market in Mancos until 1983. She remained an active member in     
the LDS Church participating in the Relief Society, and was a member 
of the Mancos VFW Auxiliary.

Selma was the oldest living person in her pioneer family. Many of 
the people in the area remember her warm, friendly way of greeting      
them when they would come into the store or visit her home.

Selma is survived by her devoted husband of 68 years, Van A. Willis 
of Mancos; and her children: Linda Willis of Mancos; and Dean Willis 
of Golden, Colo. She leaves three grandchildren: Phillip and 
Evan of Golden, and Ginny Stohlmann and husband, Nick; and two 
great-grandsons: Gage Anthony and Jayden Nicholas, all of Mesa. 
Her nephews: David Oveson and wife, Judy, of California; Doug 
Oveson and wife, Bonnie, of Utah, and Dorian of Missouri; her 
niece, Suzanne Oveson Cavendar of Showlow, Ariz.; and her 
husband’s niece, Lois Warner Rogers of Cortez, who has lovingly      
provided many hours of hospice care for her during the last few years 
of severe memory impairment and diabetes complications, also 
survive Selma.

Preceding her in death is her father in 1966; and her mother 1989; 
and all of her brothers and sisters.

The family requests memorial contributions be made in Selma’s  name 
to Hospice of Montezuma.

Services are under the direction of the Ertel Funeral Home.

-- 
Tom Vaughan, Editor
The Mancos Times-Tribune 
Serving the beautiful Mancos Valley since 1892
P.O. Box 987, Mancos, CO 81328
(970) 533-7766     (970) 565-8527
thomasv@cortezjournal.com  fax (970) 565-8532      


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