Former Altus resident Carolina Shears Herrera, 44, of Fort Worth, Texas, died Sunday, Jan. 1, 2006, in Dallas after a lengthy illness. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Jackson Funeral Home Chapel in Frederick with the Rev. Brent Morey officiating. Burial will follow in the Altus City Cemetery under the direction of Jackson Funeral Home. A Prayer service will be held at 5 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.

She was born June 16, 1961, in Toledo, Ohio, to Joe and Carolina (Corona) Shears. She attended Altus Public Schools. She married Reyes Herrera in Altus. He preceded her in death in 1979. Later she and Joe Raymond Alcorta Jr. began living as companions. She worked in the home health field. She was a Baptist.

She is survived by her husband Joe Raymond Alcorta Jr. of the home; her mother, Carolina Lankford of Altus; three sons, Reyes Herrera Jr. of Wellington, Texas, Joe Raymond Alcorta III and his wife Sunshine, and Ruben Daniel Alcorta and his wife Veronica, all of Fort Worth; two brothers, Gasper Shears and his wife Philadelphia, and Joe Shears Jr., all of Altus; four sisters, Janie Raper and her husband David of Red Oak, Texas, Elsa Sanchez and her husband Louis of Wellington, Virginia Lankford of Oklahoma City, and Julie Hill and her husband Richard of Frederick; four grandchildren, Nadia Rianna Alcorta, Lorenzo Rene Alcorta, Arianna Nichole Alcorta and Alyssa Michelle Alcorta.

She was preceded in death by her father, her first husband, and a brother, Ruben Shears.