Obituary

HALE CENTER -- Graveside memorial services for James P. Purvis, 78, of Santa Teresa, N.M., will be at 2 p.m. Friday in Hale Center Cemetery with Dr. Carrol Green, pastor of First Baptist Church, officiating. Burial arrangements are by Freeman-Abell Funeral Home. Mr. Purvis died Sept. 11, 2004, in Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth. He was born March 28, 1926, the son of Thomas William and Elmira Purvis, in Goss, Miss. He served with the U.S. Marine Corps for 20 years, serving in Okinawa in the final months of World War II. He was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart and received numerous service ribbons. He worked as a recruiter for seven years in Dallas, San Angelo, Odessa and Roswell, N.M., retiring from the Marine Corps in 1964. He began work with the New Mexico Employment Security Department in Artesia as an employment counselor for 22 years and served as manager of the Artesia and Roswell offices. He was president of the New Mexico chapter of IAPES, and attended conferences nationwide. He retired in 1986. He was a member of First Baptist Church, Rotary Club in Artesia and served as president of the Valley Lions Club. On July 3, 1953, he married Lois Nivens Chilton in Roswell, N.M. Survivors include his wife; two sons, John Easley Purvis of El Paso and James Daniel Jones-Purvis and wife, Beverly, of Frisco; one grandson; and one great-granddaughter. A daughter, Rebecca JoAnn Marques Hendricks Purvis, died in February 2003. A sister and three brothers also are deceased.