Fern B. Lawson

Obituary Fern B. Lawson, 85, of Mimosa Drive Roswell, New Mexico passed away on Saturday, May 9, 2020, at her home surrounded by her family. Private services will be held, and interment will follow at Carlsbad Cemetery Carlsbad, NM.Denton-Wood Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Fern was born on July 25, 1934, in Childress, TX to Jeff and Clara Burkham. Her family then moved to New Mexico, where Fern finished elementary school in Malaga, NM and high school in Carlsbad, NM. Fern got married on August 15, 1953, and started her family of 6 children. The following years, she was a homemaker and worked retail, until she decided to go back to school in 1983. She earned her Associates Degree from NMSU-C in 1986, Bachelors Degree from ENMU in 1988, and license of Special Education in 1991. Fern worked as substitute teacher and then taught Braille during her time as an educator. Fern participated in the Foster Grandparent Program, and was on the advisory councils to NM Commission for the Blind and Eddy County Community Action. She was also a member of the 9th and Missouri Church of God. She loved Jesus and spoke about going home in her final days. She loved to crochet afghans; sharing with loved ones including disabled veterans. Fern made such a positive impact in the lives around, and she will be dearly missed and never forgotten. Fern was preceded in death by her father, Jeff Burkham; mother, Clara Burkham; brother, E.D. Burkham; sister, Dacota Burkham; brother, L.C. Burkham; brother, W.C. Burkham; brother, George Burkham; brother, Durl Burkham; and sister, Louise Bryant; granddaughter, Brittaney Dunn. Fern is survived by her son, George Stanley Lawson of Carlsbad, NM; son, James K. Lawson Jr. of Carlsbad, NM; daughter, Rebecca Gail May of Las Cruses, NM; son, Gary W. Lawson of Carlsbad, NM; daughter, Kathy Macha of Roswell, NM; son, Larry D. Lawson of Carlsbad, NM of Carlsbad, NM; sister, Geneva Walker of Carlsbad, NM; and numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, memorial contribution may be sent to the following: Carlsbad Community Kitchen 402 S. Alameda St., Carlsbad, NM 88220; Hope Center 1314 S. Canal St., Carlsbad, NM 88220; Noah's Ark Animal Shelter 5217 Buena Vista DriveCarlsbad, N.M. 88220; Commission for the Blind 2200 Yale Blvd. SE Albuquerque, NM 87106. Condolences may be expressed at dentonwood.com To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Fern B. Lawson, please visit our floral store. You are using an outdated web browser that does not support this video. Your browser does not support this video format. You should be able to view it in Chrome, Safari or Internet Explorer. $(document).ready(function(){ if ( false === supports_h264_baseline_video() ) { $("#vdfmtnt").show(); $("#vidplyr1").hide(); } });