Hats off to special hearts and super heroes

The Special Hearts Prom held last weekend at the Clovis Civic Center was inspired in part by a young man who had a special heart of his own. His mother said he would have had one heck of a good time had he been there.

Daniel Goyne was born in Portales in 1982 with a congenital heart disease. He was less than a week old when he had the first of many surgeries, his mother Ronda Goyne said.

Given a life expectancy of 15 years, Daniel grew up in special education classrooms in the Portales schools, and was an active participant in Special Olympics.

Daniel was 33 when he died just over a year ago, more than doubling the number of years doctors thought he would have, and earning a slew of friends along the way.

Ronda said one of the first stories she heard about her son after he turned 19 and moved into a group home with other special needs individuals was that whatever table Daniel occupied at mealtimes was “the cool table.”

Not only was it considered the best place to sit, there was always — always — room for one more.

“I thought it was so much fun that his friends were the cool table,” Ronda said. “As I told the story after he passed away, we started talking about how much fun it would be to get them together.”

By day, Ronda is the accounting manager for the Clovis Civic Center, a property that sees a lot of events in the course of a year.

“At the Mom Prom last year in May,” she recalled, “I said it would be so much fun if we had a prom for special needs people.”

Ronda knew how much her son had enjoyed the friends he found in Special Olympics and through his long involvement with ENMRSH, Inc. She wanted to make sure others who lived locally had those same opportunities.

“My goal was to get people together who are not involved,” Ronda said. “That’s where my heart was when I started this.”

The Clovis High Plains Rotary Club signed on as the main sponsor, and other local service clubs pitched in, including the Clovis Evening Lions Club, the Kiwanis Club of Clovis, El Desayuno, and the Clovis Rotary Club. A local hardware store loaned a forklift so volunteers could decorate the Enchantment Ballroom at the Civic Center with streamer-laden hula hoops and spring flowers.

The invitation-only event had a stated goal of “creating a magical night for the special people in the local community and providing them with an opportunity to make new friends in a comfortable and inclusive atmosphere,” according to the event page on Facebook.

Konnie Kanmore, regional director for High Desert Family Services of Clovis (another organization that serves individuals with developmental disabilities), brought several of her clients to the event. She said she especially enjoyed “the laughter and smiles throughout the room and watching everyone make new connections.”

Besides feasting on a catered meal of lasagna and chocolate cake, the Special Hearts Prom guests were professionally photographed, received t-shirts, and got to spend the evening dancing to tunes spun by local deejays.

After decades around the Special Olympics crowd, Ronda said she’s rarely surprised by anything that happens, but always delighted by the excitement.

“I just love that when you go to a Special Olympics dance or prom,” she said, “they start dancing before the lights are even turned down. And when you go to one of those events, everybody goes to the dance floor, partner or no.”

Would Daniel have enjoyed Saturday’s event?

“Oh, yes,” Ronda said. “Oh, yes. He loved family. He loved friends. He loved activities. He wanted everybody to be involved.”

Another thing about Daniel: He loved super heroes, his mother said.

But no wonder. I think he was raised by one.

Betty Williamson tips her hat to all who wear capes. You may reach her at:

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