Pioneers honored

Women of all ages donned bonnets and cowboy hats Friday morning to celebrate their western heritage.

The 12th annual Pioneer Women Breakfast welcomed 125 guests, including reigning and potential Rodeo New Mexico queens and princesses, city officials, Chamber of Commerce members, and most importantly, descendants of the men and women who helped put Clovis on the map.

CMI correspondent photo: Joshua Lucero

Miss Rodeo America Chenae Shiner of Utah speaks at the 12th annual Pioneer Women Breakfast Friday morning at Clovis Civic Center.

The breakfast, hosted by Plateau, followed suit with this year's Pioneer Days theme "Honoring BNSF: Clovis' Original Pioneers," and many local residents shared their own stories and memories of the railroad.

"My father came to Clovis in 1905 as a young man and he was a news butcher," shared Clovis resident Gloria Wicker. "He went up and down the trains selling licorice and gum and candy. He passed away as a railroad engineer."

Wicker, who is retired from what used to be the Santa Fe Railroad, explained that her sister, grandfathers, uncles and two husbands also worked for the railroad.

CMI correspondent photo: Joshua Lucero

Floyd Cline sings with the Curry County Outlaws during the Pioneer Women Breakfast at the Clovis Civic Center Friday morning. About 125 people attended the event.

"That's pretty common among railroaders, too," she joked in reference to her multiple railroad marriages.

Joy Pattison told the group about her memory of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife coming through town on the Santa Fe Railroad in the 1950s and speaking to a crowd from the caboose of the train.

Reigning Miss Rodeo New Mexico 2013 Ashlee Rose Mills introduced her court of queens and princesses, and also the contestants for this year's competition.

"Getting to know everyone and getting to hear a lot of those stories of the pioneer women was really cool," said 14-year-old Deanne Guthrie of Clovis, who is a contestant in the Miss Rodeo New Mexico Princess pageant.

Ernie Kos, executive director of the Clovis/Curry County Chamber, said the breakfast welcomed more pioneer women than in previous years.

"My favorite part of the event is seeing the young rodeo queens interacting with the pioneer women," said Kos. "Their jaws are to the ground when they find out they made their own soap and butter."