Mary Garland Tipps was born June 19, 1942 in Cookeville, TN to the home of Frances Francher (Frater) and Garland Emory Tipps and died at her home in Portales on the afternoon of August 26, 2022 at the age of 80.  In 1946, the family relocated to New Mexico, first living in Clovis, and later moving to Portales when her father accepted a position as a professor at Eastern New Mexico University.

Mary was active in school as a cheerleader, and was a 1960 graduate of Portales High School.  Following graduation, she went on to attend ENMU, where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English, and later a Master’s in Finance.  On Dec. 12, 1964 in Portales, she was married to Ronald Sumner who was stationed at Cannon Air Force Base.  Over the next several years they moved to various duty stations until her husband retired.  In the various places where they lived, she taught in a variety of school settings.  They made their home in Ft. Pierce, FL following his discharge from the Air Force.  Mr. Sumner preceded her in death in the mid 1990’s, and soon after that she returned to Portales to make her home.

Mary enjoyed doing crafts of various kinds. She was very talented in working with clay, and made a variety of items, such as key chains and earrings. She also enjoyed doing needlepoint. She was a voracious reader, and loved Shakespeare. Mary was an avid sports fan. She kept up with the statistics of a number of teams, and often predicted the winner of any given game. She was particularly devoted to the Jets, regardless of whether they were winning or losing.

She was also very fond of animals, particularly cats.  She contributed to a number of animal rescue programs.  Mary was a very loyal and attentive friend.  She particularly enjoyed the Saturday night “get togethers” with members of the classes of the 60’s.  Over the past several months she had occupied a great deal of time in following the progress of the various fires in northern New Mexico.

She is survived by two brothers, David Tipps of Portales and Alan Tipps of Sapello, NM; and a nephew, Michael (Nikky) Tipps and a niece, Kristi (Olivia) Deutsch; and great-nieces, Tessa Deutsch and Maverick Tipps.  She was preceded in death by both of her parents and a brother, Michael Floyd Tipps who died in 1960, as well as by her husband.

As she requested, there are to be no services in her memory.

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