Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date …
1942: Portales residents crawled out of bed before daylight this morning, consoling themselves that the people of Texas were having a tougher time of it, and that anyhow it is little enough to help defeat the Axis.
The Portales Daily News reported, “Probably no one waited up until 2 a.m. this morning to set their clocks ahead, but begun to live under ‘War Time’ from the time they went to bed.”
The newspaper reported school buses ran on schedule, “but many a student was left behind because their parents forgot to set their clocks ahead.”
Wat Stewart, bus operator for Portales schools, said all buses started on their routes before daylight.
Portales business operators accustomed to opening at 7 a.m. found no business at that early hour this morning, and several said they would start opening at 8 instead.
“After all,” as one merchant put it, “the idea is to conserve electricity, and it isn’t much saving when we have to turn on all the store lights in the morning.”
Farmers, meanwhile, said they would continue to get up in the morning “by the chickens” rather than by the clock.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens. Contact:
