Parade grand marshal has Pioneer Days history

Darla Rhodes is the grand marshal for Saturday's Pioneer Days Parade, though a few days before she was unaware of the duties.

File photo

Rodeo queen contests wave to the crowd during the 2011 Pioneer Days parade on Main Street. This year's parade is 10 a.m. Saturday.

"I don't think I have to do anything but wave," Rhodes said with a laugh. "That's all I'm counting on doing."

The participation level is usually a lot higher for Rhodes, a Whiteface, Texas, native who helped her husband Joe turn a hobby of selling boots into Joe's Boot Shop, which had become a giant operation before the couple sold the business to family.

"A lot of things she did at Joe's Boot Shop went under the radar," said her grandson, Coli Hunt, current owner of the shop in Clovis. "She went over and beyond every day she was here. That was one reason Joe's Boot Shop was successful for 40-plus years."

While the shop may bear Joe's name, he said she is "60 to 70 percent" responsible for the success of the shop, as he noted that in the early years he was running feed lots or taking care of cattle while she was taking care of employees and inventory.

The two graduated together from Whiteface High School in 1961, with Darla graduating a year early.

"You only needed 16 credits to graduate," she said. "I had 15, and I took one by correspondence."

When asked what attracted him to Darla in school, Joe said, "Her beauty, man," with a tone suggesting that the answer should be obvious.

In 1965, the two started selling boots, Darla said, armed with a small supply of boots, God's blessings and their bedroom. They later moved to another house, where the inventory went to a utility room and then a garage.

As the years passed, the business went to a small corner shop in Muleshoe and in 2001 moved to a giant location on the east side of Clovis.

Wilma Fulgham, who runs the Miss Rodeo New Mexico Pageant, said not an event would go by without Darla making sure there was some kind of event for the girls at the store, where they would receive merchandise without Fulgham ever having to ask for it.

"To me," Fulgham said, "she was a friend, and she cares."

Fulgham also noted an attention to detail that would pay off when she'd need something in a pinch, such as inexpensive buckles for prizes in a youth rodeo.

Throughout the years, the Rhodes have been supporters of rodeo and its participants, including creating their own rodeos and offering prizes for rodeo queens, princesses and sweethearts.

It meant attending events, like graduations, weddings and funerals — Joe would watch the shop while Darla went, or vice versa.

"She's really concerned about people," Joe said. "She's always been part of the community, in every community we've ever been part of."

For Darla, the bottom line is that customers become friends, and you do whatever you can for both.

"I think you just need to be there, be involved with your customers," Darla said. "We've made a lot of friends, and we're able to help a lot of people when they would come in and tell us problems they were having."

But Darla insists that the friendship is a two-way street, and she found out just how many friends she had in December of 2010, when she went to the doctor for an infected abdomen. During that visit, it was discovered that she had lymphoma.

By the power of God, and prayers of several friends, Darla said, seven months of treatment did the work and the lymphoma was gone. Joe and Darla still go to Houston every three months for preventative treatment.

The two plan to do much more traveling in their retirement. Joe said both love rodeo, with Darla's favorite being roping events. The couple is heading north of the border for their first Calgary Stampede.

They've always wanted to go, Joe said, but "all we did was sell boots."