Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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On this date … 1932: Eastern New Mexico was covered in about 6 inches of snow. “Old timers pronounced this as the heaviest snowfall in years,” the Portales Valley News reported. “The night bus was unable to run, and the bus mail failed to come in.” In other local news: • Mrs. W.M. Drinkard of the East Valley View Club had won a carpet sweeper and undisclosed cash prize in the Ball Jar canning contest. Drinkard won for canning vegetables. • A Portales man had been arrested for stealing five hens from Ed Spears. The suspect was...
Last week I was browsing through the New Year’s Day edition of the Portales Valley News from 1925. The front page featured a recap of accomplishments made by Portales during 1924, including paving 12 blocks in the business section of town, completing a new Baptist orphanage, building more than 50 new homes, paving “one mile of concrete connecting the Clovis and Elida highways,” and becoming “a recognized cotton and broom corn center.” Below that was a shorter section t...
On this date … 1903: Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway workers began construction on the Belen Cutoff – 268 miles of track that connected Texico and the Texas-New Mexico border to the AT&SF’s main line near Belen, south of Albuquerque. The new route, avoiding the mountains of northern New Mexico, led to the creation of Clovis in 1907. 1931: About 100 men, most armed with shotguns, gathered outside the Clovis News-Journal office on Main Street. Then, “bent upon bloodshed,” they sped out of the city, the newspaper...
On this date … 1951: An increase in reports of dogs destroying property had prompted an “intensive campaign” to rid Clovis of strays. Police Chief John Droke was warning dog owners to make sure their dogs were licensed and wore their licenses. Dog catcher Juan Chavez had impounded 28 dogs in the past two days and only one was tagged, the Clovis News-Journal reported. Stray dogs were kept in the pound at the city zoo for 10 days before being destroyed, Chavez warned. 1957: Clovis merchants were gathering an impressive colle...
The last days of December are a fine time to remember how quickly the years slip away. For instance, as hard as it is to believe, we will soon be celebrating (probably the wrong word to use) the fifth anniversary of when COVID entered our vocabularies and turned our world upside down. Even harder to believe for me though, is that this New Year’s Eve marks 25 years – a quarter a century, people – since we huddled around our electronics on Dec. 31, 1999, and wondered what exactl...
On this date … 1870: Christmas was celebrated as a federal holiday in the United States. Europeans long celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ as part of their Winter Solstice, when cattle were often slaughtered and food was plentiful as people celebrated the worst of winter behind them and promises of longer days and sunlight ahead. 1940: Clovis firefighters and other city employees had delivered sacks of toys to more than 600 children in the city. About 250 families benefited from the gifts, provided by volunteers and o...
On this date … 1921: The headline across The Portales Valley News read: “Most revolting crime in history of Roosevelt County.” A secondary headline reported a father had shot his son and daughter-in-law dead while they were eating breakfast. The newspaper reported Lewis Hawes was confined in the county jail, “as the result of a family row, facing the gallows as the result of his hasty temper.” When law officers arrived at the death scene six miles south of Portales, Lewis Hawes admitted his deed. “Father and son Clinton had...
For at least four years beginning in 1950, when Santa rolled into Portales after Thanksgiving, it was in a sleigh pulled by four real, honest-to-goodness reindeer. According to newspaper accounts at the time, locals turned out in droves to see them. The man behind bringing those real-life versions of Dancer, Prancer, Donner, and Blitzen to the courthouse square in Portales was a Texas rancher named Grady Carothers. Originally from Goldthwaite, in the heart of Mills County,...
On this date … 1936: C.V. Steed Undertaking was “serving Clovis since Clovis began,” according to its newspaper advertisement. Anyone needing ambulance service or funeral service could reach Steed at phone number 14. 1954: Fourteen floats were entered in the upcoming Christmas Pageant Parade in downtown Clovis. The parade route was set to begin at West Seventh and Mitchell streets, then proceed down Mitchell to West First, over to Main Street and then to Ninth Street, where it would end. All of the floats were spons...
On this date ... 1906: Portales and railroad officials were looking for those responsible for the theft of the Saturday night mail sack. It had contained about 1,000 letters, officials estimated. The mail sack was located late Sunday afternoon, but only a dozen letters remained inside. "It seems it must have been a deliberate plot to rob the sack and the robbers must have been laying for it," the Portales Times reported on Dec. 15, one week after the heist. "This is shown by...
I had lunch last week with Erinn Burch, the tireless longtime executive director of the United Way of Eastern New Mexico. I mentioned to her that not a day goes past without me hearing about someone • being referred to one of United Way’s many services to receive some assistance, • “tagging” local pet rescues to help with a found dog • or being pointed to an area church for aid with groceries or gasoline. Like many non-profits and service agencies, Burch confirmed for me that...
On this date … 1957: Hazel Stone, head of the linens department at Clovis’ C.R. Anthony’s, had been “buying and planning for a wonderful array of practical gifts for your gift shopping.” Chenille bedspreads were $4.99. Quaker lace table cloths ranged from $16.90 to $3.98. Orlon blankets were $10.99. 1961: An ice storm hit much of eastern New Mexico, leaving many rural residents without power for two days. Crews from Farmers Electric were working all hours to restore service to Fort Sumner and multiple farm homes, the Clovi...
On this date … 1946: Lloyd Jordan and Don Litchfield had been named captains of the 1947 Clovis High School football team. Coach Bill Gibson made the announcement at the annual football banquet. Also at the banquet, John Fila had been presented the Holmberg Award, symbolic of the most outstanding football player on the squad. The award, given by Wildcat supporter and jewelry store owner A.A. Holmberg, was a 14-carat solid gold miniature football. Attitude, ability and sportsmanship were the primary factors considered in s...
I ran across a printed list last week that claims to be a guide to cleaning one’s home, sorted by frequency of how often particular tasks should be tackled. The categories in this list included “every day,” “every week,” “every month,” “every three to six months,” and “every year.” Nowhere did I see my category of choice: “When company is coming.” I’m not saying I don’t do some of the things on the list on a fairly regular basis, like making beds and washing dishes. But I can...
On this date … 1948: Paul and Dizzy Dean became owners of the Clovis Pioneers baseball team. Paul, whose nine-year Major League career had ended in 1943, would be player-manager for the Class C West Texas-New Mexico League team. Dizzy Dean, who would be elected to the Hall of Fame in 1953, said he would be active in the team behind the scenes. 1954: High winds and dirt turned regional skies reddish brown. Winds whipped up to 64 mph and visibility was reported at less than two miles in Fort Sumner. 1960: An exhibit from the S...
On this date … 1915: The Clovis Woman’s Club appointed a sanitation committee to ensure the city’s livery stable was cleaned out twice a week. Club minutes also tell us, “Mrs. Anna Janes reported that the box supper will be December 8, proceeds of which will be used for the library fund. Be sure to bring your husband and remind him that his bids are to be very generous.” 1969: A black airman at Cannon Air Force was being court-martialed for refusing to cut his hair. Airman First Class August Doyle said he believed the order...
As I was working on my side hustle last week (the events calendar for this newspaper), I couldn’t help but notice now many wonderful music events are on the near horizon. It got me to thinking about our old friend Wayne Crume, who provided a bulk of the live music our family listened to for some memorable years. Wayne was born in Kenna and grew up in eastern New Mexico, but lived away from here from the early 1950s to about 1980 when he and his wife, Carol, came back home t...
On this date … 1956: The White House Christmas tree was scheduled to make a stop in Clovis prior to heading east, Santa Fe Railway officials said. The 65-foot spruce cut in the Lincoln National Forest was slated to be shipped via two flat cars. The tree would be on the cars “considerably west” of the passenger depot, officials said, before being loaded onto a different freight train sometime during the night. 1957: Big news in Elida: Mr. and Mrs. Claud McDowell were driving a new Mercury car, the community was still talking a...
It may be the most beloved tree in Portales. It's certainly the most photographed. The majestic ginkgo tree that graces the front lawn of the administration building at Eastern New Mexico University's Portales campus has had a banner autumn. Beautiful in any season, every few years this tree pulls out all the stops and turns its corner of campus into a glowing canvas of gold. This was one of those years. It seems almost wrong to talk about it in past tense, but last weekend's...
On this date … 1952: Cannon Air Force Base personnel were preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving with a traditional turkey and dressing feast served in both airmen dining halls and the officers open mess. A Thanksgiving eve dance was also on the calendar, as well as Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic services. Many airmen also had invitations to dine with local families in lieu of spending the holiday on base. 1956: A pair of Clovis teens had confessed to robbing the juke box at Juarez Café. One boy told Chief of Police Nelson Wor...
On this date … 1940: A man known “from the Pecos River to the Texas line as a character of the old days of the West,” died in a Clovis hospital at age 75. The Clovis News-Journal reported that Frank H. “Doctor” Childs died from injuries suffered when he was “slugged and robbed” in El Paso a few days earlier. Childs, who homesteaded near Melrose in 1908, was easily recognized throughout the region because he was always “well dressed ... with a cane slung over his arm,” CN-J reported. 1946: Movies playing in local theaters in...
On this date … 1946: A man had been arrested on allegations he made “improper advances” toward a young girl in a Clovis movie theater. Police were called to the theater after the girl’s father threatened to beat up the suspect. When police arrived, the suspect ran from the theater. Police captured him a few blocks away. “A local physician said that the man was either intoxicated or under the influence of dope, but that he was probably temporarily insane,” the Clovis News-Journal reported. 1961: Portales consumers were cuttin...
On this date … 1952: Three Roosevelt County businesses had been hit by burglars, but the only significant loss was $40 from a Portales farm supply store’s cash drawer, soft drink and candy dispensers. An Elida service station reported two old automobile batteries were missing, but new batteries were left behind. The service station was also missing a gallon of milk. A Roosevelt County Sheriff’s deputy said it wasn’t clear if the three burglaries were related. 1952: Authorities were investigating the poisoning of 16 head of...
On this date … 1966: Clovis police investigator Cliff Wirtjes had earned the highest score in the annual policeman’s shooting competition. Wirtjes scored 663 out of a possible 800 to take the top-gun trophy for the second year in a row. 1969: The Clovis Junior Women’s Club had announced its annual home tour. Five Clovis homes were scheduled to be decorated for the holidays and open for public viewing. The homes were located at • 701 E. 21st • 1744 Baronne Court • 1617 Courtland Circle • 2824 Axtell • 1921 Enloe Drive. Ti...
Want to "talk turkey?" Meet Shelly Cissell Atwood of Portales. She may know more about turkeys (especially the oven-roasted kind) than anyone in eastern New Mexico. Atwood is the longtime "head turkey" for the mammoth Thanksgiving feast hosted each year at First United Methodist Church in Portales, where preparations are already under way to feed 2,000 of us on Thursday. This community fixture has been part of Atwood's life as long as she can remember, and she's at least the...
