Thera Elaine Sims, age 89, passed away on Tuesday, April 4, 2017. Funeral services will be held at 2 PM on Saturday, April 8, 2017 at the First United Methodist Church with Dr. Mike Henderson and Pastor Lou Ellerbrook officiating. Burial will follow in Childress Cemetery under the direction of Johnson Funeral Home. Visitation will be held from 5 to 6:30 PM on Friday, April 7, 2017 at the Johnson Funeral Home Chapel. Thera Elaine Sims was born on August 18, 1927 in Amarillo to Ernest Percy and Nannie (Ring) Jones. Because of the Depression, her family had to move to wherever the work was, and they sometimes moved twice a year between Texas and New Mexico. This eventually caused Elaine to skip two grades. By the time she completed high school, she had changed schools eleven times. She met her husband, Otho, in River Road where they attended high school. She attended West Texas State College and later at Texas State College for Women (currently TWU) as an accounting major. Her hobbies included reading, painting, weaving, knitting, sewing, gardening and golf. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church and was a Charter member of the United Methodist Women. An active member of the community, she was instrumental in the planning of the walking trail in Childress Fair Park. Elaine was one of the first Bluebird leaders in Childress beginning with twelve second grade girls who became Campfire Girls and then, as high school seniors, Horizon Club Girls. The original twelve members still remain good friends today. Elaine taught her children the importance of faith in Christ and treating others with kindness. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Otho Sims, a brother Horace Jones of Ruidoso, NM, and a sister Mary Zell Thomas of New York. Elaine is survived by a son, Ronald Otho Sims of Childress; two daughters, Susan Grimes and husband, David of Childress and Cathy Decker and husband, Jim of Montgomery, TX; grandchildren Cathy Leigh Hampton and husband, Howard of Lawton, OK, Kessie Avey and husband, Nate of Gail, TX, Sarah Cook and husband, Cody of Kingwood, TX, and Wade Decker of Montgomery, TX; great-grandchildren are Haley and Hunter Hampton of Lawton, Jake and Savannah Avey of Lamesa, and Charlotte Cook of Kingwood; and numerous extended family and friends.