Emma "Neva" Geneva Bartlett

Obituary for Emma Geneva Perry Bartlett Neva Bartlett of Ruidoso passed away Tuesday, May 30, in Roswell, NM. Please take a moment to share a kind thought or memory with Neva’s family at www.andersonbethany.com. Neva was born July 31, 1932, in Sweetwater, Oklahoma where she was the 5th child born to Walter Irvin and Emma Maggie Goodwin Perry out of seven total children. When she was very young, Walter & Emma moved the family from Sweetwater, OK to Pie Town, NM, where they lived in a dirt floor dugout on the side of a hill. Walter died when Neva was six years old, leaving her mother to raise seven children in the depression and wilderness of New Mexico. Neva helped her older siblings pick beans and take care of the livestock on the homestead. She graduated from high school in 1950 from Quemado High School. After graduation, she moved to Dimmitt, Texas to work at the drive in for Gene & Alma Kenmore. In 1951, Neva married Wayne Gipson and in 1955, their only child, Perry Craig Gipson, was born in Ft. Hood, Texas. In 1967, the family moved from Dimmitt, Texas to Ruidoso, NM because “the wind didn’t blow in Ruidoso”. In 1982, Neva married Leland Bartlett and together they started and ran L & N Water & Ice in Ruidoso and Albuquerque. They also had the Culligan Water Softener franchise in Ruidoso. The two of them worked nonstop from sunup to sundown and never once complained. Finally in 1999 they sold the business, loaded up the first of several motor homes and set out to explore the United States. They traveled from Alaska to the Red Woods of California to Niagara Falls. They saw the leaves change colors in New England and sailed next to whales in Mexico. Their life together was grand until Leland passed away in 2018. Whenever asked, she would make her famous chicken n dumplins, canned the prettiest crab apple jelly and up until last year, always made chocolate and peanut butter fudge for the grandkids. Gran is survived by her children: Perry & Charlotte Gipson of Roswell, NM, Virgil & Niki Bartlett of Amarillo, Tx, Connie Bartlett of Lamesa, Tx, Cindy & Carl Renner of Highland Village, Tx; grandchildren: Jim Paul & Martha Whipple of Ruidoso Downs, NM, Colinda & Michael Hinkle of Lamesa, Tx, Ashley & Tye Hamm, Lubbock, Tx, Audra & Madux Hobbs of Roswell, NM, John Renner of Highland, Tx, Sean & Bonnie Gipson of Ft. Worth, Tx, Joey & Ashley Renner of Madisonville, Tx, Kelsey Gipson of Roswell, NM, Cutter Whipple of Lamesa, Tx; and sixteen great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Leland Bartlett; sisters: Wilma Fowler and Wraye Mead; and brothers: Odell, Walter Jr, and Beele Perry. The funeral service will be held at the First Baptist Church in Ruidoso on Saturday, June 3 at 10:00 A.M. followed by burial at Forest Lawn Cemetery. The family has requested memorials to the charity of your choice.

Emma "Neva" Geneva Bartlett

July 31, 1932 - May 30, 2023