Cleta Jo (Harris) Looney

Funeral services for Cleta Looney, 92, of Portales, will be held at 10:30 AM, Tues., Jan. 25, 2022 in the Wheeler Mortuary Chapel with Rev. Phillip Smith officiating.  Burial will follow in the Portales Cemetery with Josh Short, Micah Short, A. J. Short, Nathan Nixon, Jayden Nixon, and Shon Knox serving as pallbearers.  Lucas Short, Craig Stluka and Joseph Ham will serve as honorary pallbearers.

Cleta Jo Looney was one of a set of twins born April 12, 1929 in Tucumcari, NM to the home of Elizabeth Pearl (Jacobs) and John Simuel Harris and died on the afternoon of Jan. 18, 2022 in Portales, NM.  The family moved to Portales when the girls were small, and later relocated to San Jon, NM.  Cleta and her twin, Leta, graduated from San Jon High School in 1948.  After high school, Cleta and her sister worked as waitresses at the Silver Grill.  In 1950, she was married to James Edsel Nixon.  The couple had four children together before later divorcing.  They lived several different places during those years.  After they settled in Portales, Cleta worked again as a waitress at the Sands Restaurant.  In 1965, she was married a local truck driver, Jim Looney.  She would often ride in the truck with her husband.  Then in 1973, they bought a Texico service station.  Cleta worked at the station alongside her husband, pumping the gas, cleaning windshields, just whatever needed to be done.  They later owned another station on the west side of town. In addition, they raised rabbits which were then sold for meat.

Cleta loved doing crafts, and made various items.  Among her specialties were night lights which her daughter-in-law helped to market.  For several years, she and Jim owned a Harley Davidson motorcycle, and rode with a club.  Later they purchased an RV which they used to travel to Bluegrass festivals.

She is survived by two sons and a daughter-in-law, James and Lydia Nixon of Bertram, TX and Joe Nixon of Portales; two daughters, Kaila Nixon and Denise Nixon both of Portales; 17 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great-grandchildren; and a sister, Leta Grimes currently of Clovis.  She was preceded in death by her parents, a brother, Dalton Seaberry and a sister, Stella Limb, three grandchildren and by her husband, Jim Looney who died in 2006.

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