Savannah L. (Ortiz) Neighbors

Ms. Savannah L. Neighbors, 37, of Bristol, passed away Sunday, March 28, 2021 at 3:54 pm at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Mishawaka following an extended illness. She was born in Richland, Washington on February 7, 1984 to the late Ramon and Diana (Cooley) Ortiz.

Surviving Savannah are her children Kylie, Kendra, Khloe and Kaiden Neighbors, all at home; siblings Dinnaray “Dinna” (Dave) Disse of Middlebury, Nina (Michael) Maher-Reinholt of Bristol, Diana Allen of Osceola, Delilah Ortiz of Cleveland, Ohio, Ramon Ortiz, Jr. of Phoenix, Arizona, Jeremiah Ortiz of Osceola, Eric Cooley of Grantsville, West Virginia and Lisa Cooley of Spokane, Washington, and a host of loving extended family and close friends.

In accordance with Savannah’s wishes, cremation is to take place. No immediate services have been planned and Billings Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Elkhart has been assisting the family with arrangements.

Savannah wore a lot of hats during her life, but two things that she absolutely loved was photography and psychology. She received her degrees from Kaplan University and Axia College, and because of her affinity to children, it was just natural to pursue the psychology field with kids. She was also a bit of a visual artist, so her nature and still-life photography came easily as well.

To say Savannah loved her children would be an understatement, as she doted over them night and day. To her, they were her everything, and she preferred to do things with them as opposed to doing things with anyone else. Savannah also loved travelling and holidays, with Christmas and Halloween being her favorites. For Savannah, October was a month full of planning and excitement, as she would methodically schedule out her haunted house visits depending on her work schedule. She couldn’t visit enough of them and would even travel great distances just to tour ones that she either really liked over the years or was experiencing for the first time.  It should also be noted that she enjoyed visiting museums on about the same level as she enjoyed her haunted houses and would never pass up an opportunity to visit a new gallery or a museum that featured something exciting.  

Loving, happy, hard working and funny, folks just loved to be around Savannah as she just seemed to flow with happiness and good vibes. She also loved working with people and enjoyed making new friends and acquaintances. She was fond of all types of animals, loved flowers like roses and lilacs, and enjoyed being outside and spending time in the sunshine.

Memorial donations made in Savannah’s name can be given to the Savannah L. Neighbors Memorial Fund in care of her sister, Nina Maher-Reinholt.

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