Family, friends open donation account for shop owner devastated by fire

Staff report

Friends and family of Earl Woods started a bank account at Wells Fargo to make donations after Woods’ garage burned down last week.

Woods’ granddaughter Elaine Nettles started the bank account a few days after the fire.

“I put the information on Facebook and people messaged me and said they wanted to give anonymously. He (Earl) was reluctant to do it at first because he has a lot of pride, and he didn’t want to take any handouts, but we set the account up.”

The fire started around Wednesday. The garage, located at 1734 South Road 3, burned along with three pickup trucks. According to Woods, who has owned the garage since 1988 and has been a mechanic in Portales since 1961, the fire was started by a parts washer that caught on fire.

“It’s a big loss to me. You have no idea what that shop meant to me and how much it hurts to lose it,” Woods said.

Woods did not have insurance on his shop or two of the pickups that were in it.

“It’s devastating news. He’s worked in this area since 1961 and has helped ranchers, farmers and the general public in the neighborhood,” said Dennis Darrow, a former a co-worker and a friend of Woods.