Luther Clyde Shields

LUTHER CLYDE SHIELDS A Remembrance Message for lifelong Cortez resident, Luther Clyde Shields will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, January 9 at the Ertel Memorial Chapel. Pastor Neely Lewis will be speaking. Private Interment Services will follow. A visitation is scheduled for Friday morning from 10 a.m. until service time. Luther Clyde Shields passed from this life to his eternal life in Heaven on Friday, January 2, 2015 at the age of 95. Luther was a resident at the Vista Grande Inn at the time of his passing. Luther's wish is that all of you who attend this memorial service take a moment to reflect and focus on the message to be presented. He wants everyone here to make the most important decision that could ever be made, and that is to accept Jesus as their personal Savior, just as Luther did back in 1956. He longs to meet each one of you in Heaven. It is a decision you would never regret. He spent his life telling people of the love of God, the reason Christ died, and the simple way of accepting Jesus as your personal Savior. Just a few days before his passing, he was talking in his sleep saying, "Praise God" and "thank you, Jesus". Luther was born in Gentry, Arkansas on October 12, 1919 to Elmer and Laura Shields. Luther was the first born, and then Bob, Bryce, and Lova Mae. Luther attended school at Garrett Ridge (west of the current Lewis-Arriola School) until his sophomore year. He finished his last two years of high school in Boise, Idaho where he worked on the farm there with his grandparents. Luther was drafted into the army in the fall of 1941, to serve one year. In September of 1941 he went to Fort Knox, Kentucky for 13 weeks of basic training. He also went to Fort Bliss for training. After World War II broke out in December of 1941, Luther was drafted into the Army. He ended up being captured by the Germans and sent to a prison camp in Italy where he was there for eighteen months. God had His hand on Luther throughout this whole ordeal. After several unsuccessful attempts to escape, finally on September 14, 1943 they were successful. After being on the run, hiding in caves in the winter, he was taken in by the Palimoni family who nursed him back to health after catching pneumonia. Finally, on August 2, 1944, Luther arrived in New York on the Queen Mary (a hospital ship) and then went to the Sam Houston, Texas rest camp. In May of 1983, through the secretive efforts of their children, family and friends, Luther & Jimmie returned to Italy for a very special reunion with the Palimoni family. In November of 1945, Luther and Jimmie got married in Aztec, N.M. They homesteaded 200 acres in 1951. Gary was born to Luther & Jimmie in May of 1947. Cindy was born later in October of 1950. Luther also hauled coal from Thompson Park up to Knife Edge at Mesa Verde. He later owned his own dump truck and hauled gravel and fill dirt for many years until he retired in 2002. In 1961 Luther became licensed to preach at the Goodman Point Baptist Church. He preached at Monticello, Utah for 3 years. In 1983 he was ordained as a minister. He became the pastor of the Montelores Baptist Church at Lewis and preached there for 19 years until retirement in 2002. Luther was preceded in death by his son, Gary in 1988; his youngest brother Bryce in 2000; his loving wife, Jimmie in 2002; and a younger brother, Bob in 2013. Luther leaves behind, his daughter, Cindy and husband, Jerry of Cortez; his daughter-in-law, Linda Shields of Phoenix, Ariz. He also leaves behind three grandchildren: Julie Aponte and husband, Ricky of Lake Havasu, Ariz., Brett Jackson and wife, April of Cortez, Kenlynn Winsor and husband, Sean of Flagstaff, Ariz. He leaves six great grand children: Kristen and Matthew Nesmith of Lake Havasu, Ariz., Steven Nesmith of Tempe, Ariz., Tyler and Tessa Jackson of Cortez, and Vivian Winsor from Flagstaff, Ariz. He also leaves behind one great great granddaughter, Aspen Zickefoose of Lake Havasu, Ariz.