Pages Past - Dec. 3

On this date ...

1972: Tom Gossett of Floyd and Wally Waller of Clovis were named as Roosevelt County sheriff's deputies under newly elected sheriff Odell Smith.

A third deputy, Johnny Paiz of Dora, was also working under Smith, while Sharon Peterson was staying on as radio dispatcher and office secretary.

Gossett had formerly worked for the Clovis Police Department as a patrolman and detective, and had been farming at Floyd, and Waller — a Roosevelt County native — had also formerly served as a Clovis police officer.

Smith was scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 1, 1973, replacing Glenn Widener as Roosevelt County sheriff.

1967: George Umberson, director of choirs at Eastern New Mexico University, was putting final touches on an upcoming performance of Handel's "Messiah" featuring a 400-voice massed choir at the physical education complex arena at ENMU.

Besides Eastern's choral union, 200 high school students in honor choirs from Carlsbad, Clovis, Hobbs and Roswell were taking part in the performance, all accompanied by the university symphony.

Although previous performances of the "Messiah" at ENMU had been free, adults were asked to pay a dollar and students 50 cents for this performance to help cover the cost of feeding housing the visiting high school students for the two nights ahead of the performance.

Pages Past is compiled by Betty Williamson. Contact her at: [email protected]