Josie Chavez

Josie Rita Chavez

Josie was born on March 19, 1944 to James and Teresita Barnes in Roswell, NM. She passed away peacefully in her home on Sunday, October 11, 2020 with her family at her bedside.

Josie is preceded in death by her parents James Barnes and Teresita Barnes, several brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. She lost her husband Willie Chavez in June of this year.

From a very early age everyone knew Josie was a special child. Josie loved animals and art. Her creative mind was amazing. It continued throughout her lifetime.

Josie loved to draw and make paper dolls for her school classmates. She loved paper, paint, and any kind of art supplies. She was always creating something. As she grew older, she did a lot of quilts for family members, one she made was a skateboard theme for her son George. It was truly a work of art.

Josie made dolls, some from sticks on the ground that she saw had character. Josie also made walking sticks and painted art on old furniture. She loved to go treasure hunting at thrift stores, auctions, estate sales, etc…

As her children we knew she would be sharing her findings. Whenever we went to visit, we always made sure we had room in our cars or luggage for it, it was usually a lot. Josie passed this hobby to her children, Debra, George, and Everett, grandchildren Cassandra and Dillon. We all love the thrill of treasure hunting.

Growing up we did not have a lot of money, but mom always made sure we had what we needed.

Josie was a true entrepreneur. She sold cars before women did that sort of thing for a living. Josie was good at it! Josie sometimes made her co-workers jealous because somedays she made more sales than they did.

Josie started a cleaning business called “Turtle House Cleaning Service”. I (Debra) remember laughing and saying, “a turtle mom?” they are super slow. Mom just laughed and said, “don’t worry, I know what I am doing”. Sure enough, she had jobs all over the place, commercial and residential.

Josie’s next adventure was in Roswell, NM, she moved back home from Oregon in 1995. She got involved with the local art league. Josie volunteered with them for 12 years. She helped plan art shows at the fine arts museum. In addition, she sold her art at many of the shows and the Roswell gallery.

Josie started doing folk-art and found out there was a market for it. She sold art to people from around the world. I remember shipping some of her art to France for a client of hers. She decided to quit the art league to start her own little shop. She turned her house on east 2nd street into a collectables shop. She sold her treasures and art there for years. Josie used some of her proceeds to take care of dogs and cats, she took in over the years. She had a shelter area for them and cared for them with love.

Josie would have Christmas parties and celebrations at her shop. She loved to share her knowledge of art with others and took time to teach classes at her home and store. Josie would spend hours painting on any kind of material she could find. She loved to paint Frida Kahlo and ethnic subject matter.

Josie was a strong, intelligent and determined women. She has left a hole in our hearts that will never be filled.

A memorial service will be held at 1:00 pm, Friday, October 16, 2020 at Ballard Funeral Home Chapel with Pastor Doug Austin of Country Club Church of Christ officiating.