Zorita “Mama Zo” Bradfute Obituary
Funeral services for Zorita “Mama Zo” Bradfute, 81, will be conducted at 10:00 AM, Saturday, May 11, 2024 in the Wheeler Mortuary Chapel with her son, Richard E. Bradfute officiating. Burial will follow in the Portales Cemetery with Tate Bradfute, Evan Harris, William Powell, Wesley O’Quinn, Wade Powell, Jake Richards and Caleb Richards serving as pallbearers. The family will receive guests at the funeral home on Friday evening from 6 to 8 PM.
Zorita Rox-Zann Bradfute was born April 1, 1942 in Portales to the home of Winnie Mae (Hunsaker) and E. O. “Pid” Danforth, and died on Tuesday evening, May 7, 2024 in Portales. She was a 1960 graduate of Portales High School. While Zo was in school, she sang in the school choir. Following graduation, she went on to attend Eastern New Mexico University, graduating in 1965 with a major in Spanish and a minor in Psychology and English. At that time, she moved to Denver, where she taught at Oberon High School.
On Aug. 7, 1966 in Portales, she was married to Richard Bradfute and together they made their home in Colorado where Zo taught and Richard attended graduate school. In 1974, they returned to Portales to make their home. In 1983, she began teaching first and second grade at what was then Faith Temple Christian School. By the time that Zo retired from teaching in 2019, she had taught for a total of nearly 40 years.
Following the death of her mother in 1995, she took over the management of the family shoe store, Pid’s Shoe Store. They closed the store in 1998. Besides her teaching and caring for her family, the most important thing in Zorita’s life was her Lord. Zo was a valiant prayer warrior and a constant student of the Bible.
She is survived by Richard, her husband of more than 57 years of their home; three sons and daughters-in-law, Richard and Julie Bradfute of Clovis, David and Leah Bradfute of Radium Springs, NM and Steven and Jennifer Bradfute of Albuquerque; eleven grandchildren, William Powell and fiancé, Emily Pinedo, Wesley O’Quinn and wife, Trista, Wade Powell and fiancé, Kierstynn Melton, Taylor Bradfute, Tate Bradfute, Allison Powell, D. J. Bradfute, Kaela Bradfute, Jayden Walsh and wife, Anisah, Ava Bradfute and Elijah Bradfute; and one great-grandchild, Leeland Jaxson Walsh; a sister, Dallas Danforth of Portales; and three nieces, Kelly Hancock, Tracey Clark and April Ritchey. She was preceded in death by both of her parents.
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