Howard Whitener

Services for Howard Chester Whitener are planned for 10am Saturday, November 26th at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, 291 SR 77, Texico, NM with Pastor Jim Peabody officiating.

Howard left this home to be with the Lord on Saturday, November 19th, 2022.  He was born in Clovis, New Mexico to Caruthers and Ida (Myers) Whitener on May 31, 1927. He had one younger sister, Marjorie Jean Watkins.  He attended school at Pleasant Hill, NM and graduated in 1945. A broken foot that healed incorrectly in his youth kept him from serving his country during World War II.  He married Wilma Nell Smith on August 7, 1952 and together they had three children.

As a young man, he attended church at 1st Baptist in Pleasant Hill when he accepted Christ at about 10 years old. He was baptized in a stock tank in the driveway beside the home he lived in the majority of his life.  He married Wilma Nell at the Texico Baptist Church where he later led the congregational singing for a period of time during the 1950’s. They later attended Farwell Baptist, and then were long time members at Bovina 1st Baptist. Most recently he attended services at Pleasant Hill.

His grandfather and father farmed at Pleasant Hill, where he grew up and later farmed some of the same land until shortly before his death. Throughout the years of farming, he raised wheat, barley, soybeans, milo, Shetland ponies, hogs, cattle, and produced milk, cream, and eggs that were delivered and sold in town. He spent his entire life living in Pleasant Hill and working on the farm, with one exception of a short period as a very young boy when his parents moved to Oklahoma during the Great Depression.

He is preceded in death by his parents, his wife Wilma and his sister Marjorie. Survivors include a son Gerald Dan (Cheryl) Whitener of Pleasant Hill, a daughter Charlene Whitener of Belen, NM, and another son Terry Whitener of Pleasant Hill, a grandson Dustin Whitener, a granddaughter Denise Smith (Jerrod), and two great grandchildren, Beau and Abby Smith.

The family wishes to thank everyone for your prayers and visits, and requests that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the New Mexico Baptist Children’s Home, Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch, or to a charity of your choice.