Pages Past — Nov. 1

On this date

1973: Sandia Baptist Church in Clovis was celebrating its 10th anniversary. The church began as a mission of First Baptist Church.

1954: The health department and tuberculosis association had joined forces to provide free chest x-rays in Clovis and Grady. The procedure was intended to detect “possible cases of tuberculosis, lung cancer and heart trouble,” organizers said.

1936: A Clovis man died trying to save a child who had fallen into a tank of water at the Santa Fe Railway yards. Lavelle Brown, 7, was saved, but Rito Mendez, 45, slipped in and drowned. The sloped tank, where water settled after it was used to clean the steam engines, was 40 feet deep. Officials said Mendez, who could not swim, became entangled in moss at the bottom of the tank; men who had helped Mendez rescue the child could not pull Mendez free. He left a wife and six children.

Go figure

50: estimated number of international students at Eastern New Mexico University who planned to participate in a “Foster Home” program with area residents in 1970. The idea was for the students, who represented 10 foreign countries, to learn more about “uniquely American situations such as football games or cattle branding.”

Loans available

1964: Household Finance, at 220 Main in Clovis, offered loans for everything from cars and clothes to vacations and remodeling. Borrow $1,000, a newspaper ad reported, and pay just 24 monthly payments of $51.81.

Pages Past is compiled by Clovis News Journal Editor David Stevens. Contact him at:

[email protected]