Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1910: I.D. Johnson, 6, arrived in Clovis by train with his parents. “He learned to swim at a lake located on the corner of what is now 10th and Main Street,” his son, Bob Johnson wrote in a report for the history book “Curry County, New Mexico.”
“He earned extra money by peddling empty beer and whiskey bottles back to the Free Coinage Bar (located in the 300 block on Main Street). This ambitious enterprise was brought to an abrupt halt by the newly elected city commissioner, his father.
“And on one hot summer day, he pulled his drowning best friend Hubert Bell from Dutchman’s Lake (now known as Greene Acres Lake) and was unable to revive him on the bank.”
Johnson grew up to become a dentist and began practicing in 1928 in Portales, claiming he wasn’t sure Clovis would welcome him because of all the mischief he had created there as a boy. He moved his dentist office to Clovis about 1932. Johnson and Cotton Simms started the Colonial Park Country Club on Clovis’ north side.
1950: Portales’ five Baptist churches set an all-time record for Sunday school attendance, Rev. L.A. Doyle said. Doyle said 1,525 people were in Sunday school, shattering the previous record by 137.
1966: Ollie Powell, who homesteaded in the Dora community in 1906, died in Roosevelt General Hospital. He’d lived in Portales the last 20 years, where he was in the real estate business.
1966: Coach Brooks Jennings’ Clovis High School tennis team had run its win streak to eight.
The Wildcats’ most recent wins were over Roswell (9-0), Goddard (7-2) and Artesia (9-0).
Dean Bawcom, Butch Dunn, Marvis Johnston and Bob Snead were among the ‘Cats’ top singles players.
1970: John David Dabau, 68, a prominent farmer-rancher in eastern New Mexico, died in a Tucumcari hospital following an extended illness. Dabau owned a wheat farm and ranch that stretched through parts of Curry and Quay counties.
1971: Eastern New Mexico coffee-shop talk centered on the previous night’s first significant rainfall of the year.
Grady and other communities reported 2 to 4 inches of rain fell, mostly in “cloudburst” fashion.
The good news came with some violence.
Hail wiped out an alfalfa crop near St. Vrain, road crews were called to clear hail from NM 224 and high winds ripped a roof from a home in Texico.
Highways to Portales and Melrose were under water and almost impassable, while Clovis intersections were hubcap-deep in water during the height of the storm.
1976: Clovis Mayor Chick Taylor Jr. had proclaimed April 18-24 as Private Property Week in the city.
The Clovis Board of Realtors requested the designation in effort to encourage private ownership of land.
1992: Clovis city commissioners re-elected Dr. James Moss as city mayor.
Robert Moreno was elected mayor pro -tem.
“I know that all the commissioners are dedicated to seeing Clovis grow and prosper,” Moss said.
That task complete, commissioners then turned their attention to a long-delayed construction project. They accepted a bid of $360,000 to build the Bob Spencer Athletic Complex.
The complex was initially approved in 1983 and $200,000 was set aside to pay for it.
1997: Clovis schools officials said they were considering 19 candidates for the district superintendent’s position. Mack Mitchell was scheduled to retire June 30 and was participating in efforts to find his successor.
Candidates included Marshall Junior High Principal Dale Fullerton and Gerre Nesbitt, the district’s special education director.
Ten of the candidates had experience in the superintendent’s role at other public schools, five had doctoral degrees and one was a college president.
Clovis Municipal Schools selected Neil Nuttall for the job. He held it for seven years.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
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