Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Greg Jennings began working with model trains when he was 11.
Model trains started out as a suggestion from a concerned physician, but for Clovis native Greg Jennings, the hobby turned into a lifelong passion. A founding member of the Clovis Area Train Society, Jennings has been a model train enthusiast since the time his doctor suggested the hobby could help him develop his fine motor skills.
From working on miniature trains to raising successful human beings, Jennings believes that any job worth doing is a job worth doing well. Jennings owns and operates his general maintenance company, Jennings Enterprises. He's been married for 25 years and is the proud father to two children. He's a self-proclaimed "Clovis-ite," and staunch supporter of the local Wildcats.
Q: What is the most positive thing to come out of your membership in the Clovis Area Train Society?
A: This club is about memories, about fun, about challenges, about promoting the hobby of model railroading. ... We've been doing that for 25 years and we're going to do that another 25 - we hope. But it's all about ... promoting this hobby. And what for me the biggest thing is, is to watch a grandma or a grandpa come in, walk up and catch this drive-in movie (miniature along the model train track) with a movie (playing), and tell their grandkids a story. ... It's hearing that story. You know. ... That's the big thing for me.
Q: How and when did you get into model trains?
A: So I got into model trains when I was 11 years old. I had a physician that told my parents that I was having fine motor skill difficulty and he suggested that model railroading might be a great avenue. So I actually started over there with the in-scale model train. And it entails doing the fine, minute details, putting the rail together, and getting your trains on the rail and operational. So that's how I got started in it.
Q: What's your favorite thing about living in Clovis?
A: I've never gone hungry. ... Good food.
Q: If you could travel back in time to meet any historical figure, who would you meet and why?
A: So I thought about this question quite a bit and ... I would have to jump back to biblical times. ... And it might sound crazy but I'd want to talk to Jesus Christ. Why - he is the why. I don't have any other way to put it, but the why.
Q: Who gave you the best piece of advice you've ever received, and what was it?
A: My father, he told me never to stop and to fight for everything I ever wanted. And it doesn't matter what it is. Keep fighting.
Q: What song would you say best sums you up?
A: Def Leppard: Hysteria. ... You'll have to go listen to it.
Q: Who was your favorite teacher in school and why?
A: Dewey Pierce, because he never batted an eye to tell me exactly how it was going to be.
Q: What is your favorite train movie?
A: I think I would have to go with Atomic Train. ... When you watch all of them, they all kind of run together and that one I tend to go to more often.
Q: What is your proudest accomplishment?
A: Seeing my kids grow up. Seeing one off and through college and getting his life together. And seeing a young lady become the young lady that she is.
Q: What is your life's motto?
A: There is no job too small. It gets back to what my dad told me; you fight for what you want ... and sometimes you have to work. There is no job too small, it doesn't matter how big you are or how little you are - you've got to do it all.
