Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
CLOVIS — Marie Gomez has been with the Lighthouse Mission for 35 years, most recently as its receptionist. But Executive Director and son Richard Gomez said the void she leaves in her retirement this month goes far beyond any job title.
“She was just an all-around person,” said Richard Gomez, a co-founder of the organization. “Greeting the people, answering the phones, she was the mother, the grandmother, the friend, the candy lady. Just everything to everybody that walked in.”
As mother to the co-founders, Marie Gomez was said to have always been helping out around the Mission. Her first official role was that of the clothing sorter. She then moved on to be a cook in the soup kitchen, and from there she became the mission’s receptionist.
She began to be affectionately referred to as the “candy lady” by children and adults alike because of the bags of candy she would keep at her desk to hand out to everyone that walked in.
“I like dealing with people, I’m a people person,” she said. “I love to hear stories, I love to hear the people. A lot of people tell me their problems, or they did when I was there, and I had fun. I loved the people, I loved the mission, and I loved everybody there.”
Assistant to the Director Geri Gomez said one thing she wanted to be known about Marie Gomez was her commitment to helping people outside of the mission.
“She serves the public through the mission but she helps very, very many people out of her own resources,” Geri Gomez said. “She was a mama to a lot of people and a grandma, and a big support not only through her work but personally.”
Though she will not be serving in an official capacity, Marie still plans on lending a hand whenever there is need because she doesn’t know how to leave that behind.
“There will be people over there asking for money to go to the doctor or something,” Marie said, “and if they tell them that they don’t have it, they can’t help, well, I feel sorry for them. I have to take my purse out and give them a little something to help them out.”
