Erma Mitchell Hernandez, 91, met her Lord and Savior on November 14, 2024 in her home in Hereford, Texas. A service is scheduled for Monday, November 18, 2024 at 1 pm at Mendez & Mullins Funeral Home in Hereford, followed by a procession for her burial at the Friona Cemetery, and then followed by a meal in Hereford.  A family and friend visitation will be held from 4-7 pm on Sunday, November 17 at the funeral home.

Erma was born on July 6, 1933, in Harding County in the area of Mosquero, New Mexico, to Marcelino and Manuelita (Tafoya) Mitchell.  Erma married Jose A. Hernandez on April 3, 1950 in Clovis, New Mexico.  They raised their family in Friona, Texas and moved to Hereford, Texas in 1995.

Erma was born in a dugout on a ranch in remote New Mexico during the Great Depression.  As a result, she was extremely resourceful.  Nothing was wasted, and her determination and toughness were unmatched.  She was a reluctant, and sometimes hostile, patient when it came to modern medicine and greatly preferred the ways of her Navajo/Apache roots.

Erma was known as a tremendous cook.  If you sat at her table, you were guaranteed a memorable meal.  Her reputation preceded her, and no one turned down an opportunity to eat her cooking.

If Erma's happiest place was in her kitchen watching friends and family clean their plates, her church would be a close second.  She worshiped with various congregations throughout the years, but was always in service to the Lord.

Erma's calling was in caring for the sick and elderly.  She nursed countless people to their death and did so with the kind of compassion that many said was sent from heaven.  Again, her reputation preceded her, and those with sick family members regularly sought her help.

If cleanliness is truly next to godliness, Erma was closer to God than most all of us. She cleaned houses immaculately throughout her life and kept her own home in truly spotless condition.  It was common knowledge that her floors were cleaner than most people's dishes.

Erma's formal education ended somewhere around the 3rd grade, but she was never outwitted.  Despite very little education, she read sophisticated works in both English and Spanish.  She had an uncanny, and sometimes inconvenient, intuition about people.  Her judgments were not always generous, but they were rarely wrong.

Erma was unyielding, for better or for worse, and her reputation again preceded her.  She backed down from nothing and from no one.  Her work ethic was legendary, and she was proudly employed into her 90s.

Erma was preceded in death by her parents Marcelino & Manuelita Mitchell; her husband, Jose Angel Hernandez, Sr., her daughter Debbie Puente and her son-in-law Roy Puente of Hereford, and by two grandchildren.  She was also preceded in death by six brothers: Eloy Mitchell, Gavino Mitchell, Ernest Mitchell, Manuel Mitchell, Lucario Mitchell and Benito Mitchell; and by two sisters: Carmen Vera and Ramona Escalante.

Those left to cherish her memories are her children: Macedonio (Micky) Hernandez of Amarillo; Jose Angel Hernandez, Jr. and wife Tangie of Amarillo; Lupe Padilla and husband Michael of Hereford; Rebecca Lindauer and husband Randy of Hereford; Olga DeLaO and husband Juan of Friona; and Sally Ann Cooney and husband Michael of Hereford.  She is also survived by two brothers: Larry Mitchell and wife Sheila of Bakersfield, California, and Samuel Mitchell of Mosquero, New Mexico; and by three sisters: Pasquala Martinez of Espanola, New Mexico, Margaret Eggert of Albuquerque, and Victoria Sandoval and husband Gilbert, of Albuquerque, and by brother-in-law Vicente Guerreo and wife Yolanda of Hereford.  She is also survived by 16 grandchildren, 34 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great-grandchildren.