Nancy Jane Pettis

Nancy Jane Skinner Pettis, 88, beloved Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, and Dear Friend was called to her eternal resting place on August 15, 2025. Nancy was born in Little Rock, AR, August 26, 1936, to Ruth Mable Pulliam and Donald Skinner.

In the late 1930s her family moved to New Mexico where her father worked on a Civilian Conservation Corps Highway Project, living in a tent outside of San Antonio, NM. Nancy's early life was nomadic, as her father began working as a miner which kept the family moving to various mining towns in New Mexico, including Golden, San Pedro, and Magdalena.

Her parents separated when the mine in Magdalena closed in 1949. In the early 1950s, her oldest brother, Gearald moved the family to Albuquerque, where Nancy graduated from Albuquerque High School in 1954. Gearald was working at Creamland Dairy at the time as a milkman, and he asked a coworker, Jim Pettis, to come home with him one day after work to meet his sister, Nancy.

Nancy and Jim fell in love and were married June 17, 1955. They moved to Los Lunas in 1959 where they had three daughters, Sabrina Blahetka, Audrey DeMenno, and Cheryl Trujillo. Nancy went to work at the Los Lunas Hospital and Training School in 1965 and worked in different positions, ending her career after 30 years. The year she retired, her daughter, Sabrina bought her art lessons to help her fill the time, and she became an avid painter. Painting gave her many hours of pleasure, creating mostly landscapes of countryside scenes. She also used her talents contributing to the Crafty Ladies Group of Peralta Methodist Church. These ladies became her best friends as they happily created items to sell at their annual craft fair to support Church ministries. She was the last surviving charter member of the Women of the Moose, Belen Lodge.

Nancy was fiercely opinionated and held her ground on the issues that she cared about. She collected chicken figurines of every type, loved to work the crossword puzzle and talk to her friends. Her life was filled with the beauty and love of family, dogs, gardens, flowers, and pecan trees.

Nancy was preceded in death by her husband, Jim; and her daughters, Sabrina and Cheryl.

She leaves behind her sister, Rutha Raught (Duane); daughter, Audrey Pettis DeMenno (Vince); son-in-law, John Trujillo, five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, September 6, 2025, 10:30 a.m., at FRENCH - Lomas. The family will receive guests a half hour before the service. Burial will follow at Fairview Memorial Park Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in her name to the Peralta Methodist Church Crafty Ladies, 25 Wesley Road, Peralta, NM 87042.