Katherine Mckenzie

Catherine McKenzie 19202012
Funeral services for Katherine McKenzie, 91, of Roswell, New Mexico and Rhinelander, Wisconsin, will be held at 2:00 p.m., February 3, 2012, at Ballard Funeral Chapel in Roswell, New Mexico with Harry Tackett, West Alameda Church of Christ, officiating. Burial1 will follow at South Park Cemetery. Katherine passed away on January 26 in Wisconsin.

Katherine Lula Hefner was born on December 3, 1920 in El Reno, Oklahoma. She was the first daughter and the fourth of eleven children born to Troy and Frankie McKay Hefner. She was big sister to five younger girls and two younger brothers. During her childhood, the family lived in several towns in Texas and New Mexico, eventually settling in Hagerman, New Mexico.

On October 3, 1937, Katherine married Lenard R. McKenzie in the home of the grooms parents near Hagerman. Katherine and Lenard lived in Hagerman when they first married and then lived in Alamogordo, Portales, and Ruidoso before moving to Roswell. During these early years Katherine worked as a waitress and owned her own cafe. While living in Alamogordo, Lenard was employed as a master mechanic, working on airplanes during World War II and continued working in automobile repair after the family settled in Roswell. Katherine was employed for many years as an alteration seamstress at The Model, a mens store in downtown Roswell.

During the 1960s Lenard and Katherine purchased Snug Harbor Resort in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, where Norma and her husband Ralph Stromme resided. They maintained their home in Roswell, but spent summers in Wisconsin until, Lenards death. After Lenards death Katherine continued this routine to be near her daughter.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Lenard in 1986 her son, Donald S. McKenzie in 2010 her grandson, Chad Lamar Stromme in 1970 her
parents, Troy and Frankie Hefner four brothers, Jerry, Harold, Ernest and Phillip Hefner three sisters, Vera Lusk, Evelyn Gene Crisp, and Rachel Taylor.
Katherine is survived by her daughter and soninlaw, Norma and Ralph Stromme, of Rhinelander, Wisconsin four grandsons, Ralph L. Stromme and his wife Christina, Eric Stromme and his wife Diana, Lenny McKenzie and his wife Aurora, and Michael Don and greatgrandchildren, Kristina, Brittny, Morgan and Phaetan Stromme a brother, Frank Hefner and his wife Betty of Horseshoe Bend, Idaho two sisters, Edith Smith and her husband Joe of Albuquerque Clara Arnold and her husband Louis of Central Point, Oregon and sisterinlaw Margaret Hefner of Portales as well as numerous nieces and nephews and her doxie, Sweetpea.

Among Catherines favorite things were making quilts, afghans and sitting on her porch at the lake playing cards with her family and a trip to visit her sister, Clara, on the West Coast.

Pallbearers will be Ralph E. and Ralph L. Stromme, Eric Stromme, Lenny McKenzie, David Derrick, Butch Hefner, Louis McDonald, Dennis Ormseth, Billy Hefner and Earl Lusk.

Memorial contributions may be made to New Mexico Christian Childrens Home, 1356 New Mexico 236, Portales, NM 88130.

Visitation

Ballard Funeral Home
910 S. Main
Roswell, NM  88203
Friday, February 3, 2012
12:00 to 7:00 pm

Service

Funeral Service

Ballard Funeral Chapel
910 S. Main St.
Roswell, NM  88203
Friday, February 3, 2012
2:00 pm

Cemetery

South Park Cemetery
3101 S. Main St.
Roswell, NM  88203

Memorial Contributions

1356 NM 236
Portales, NM  88130