Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1946: The 35th Lions Club in New Mexico had been formed in Elida.
Boyd Gregory had been selected president. W.J. Crume was named first vice-president.
Charter night was scheduled June 11. The club was to meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays each month at 7:30 p.m.
1951: The Portales Milling Co. was fined $300 in federal court for “introducing adulterated and misbranded flour in interstate commerce,” records showed.
Company officials pleaded not guilty to eight counts of the allegations.
U.S. District Judge Carl Hatch fined the company $100 for each of three counts, and dismissed the rest.
1951: A Clovis native practicing law in Truth or Consequences was recovering from three gunshot wounds.
Officials said Douglas Fitzhugh was shot by a disgruntled client who lost $1,000 in a divorce settlement.
He was shot in the lower abdomen and both legs after a brief discussion with the client in his office.
A family member said Fitzhugh was doing “pretty good” and his assailant had been jailed after turning himself in to authorities.
Fitzhugh was the son of James Fitzhugh, also an attorney, whose investments helped build many of Clovis’ first businesses and homes between 1907 and 1910.
1955: Workers were preparing to build a parsonage for the Assembly of God church at 519 S. Ave. A in Portales. The Rev. Earl G. Vanzant participated in the ceremonial groundbreaking.
1955: Nineteen seniors graduated from Floyd High School. Joy Griffith was valedictorian and Annette Boyd was salutatorian.
1960: E.T. Hensley retained his district judge seat while Nelson Worley was elected Curry County sheriff in a landslide.
Worley, who had been appointed sheriff during the winter, had more than twice the number of votes as his closest opponent, Val Baumgart.
Hensley narrowly edged Harold Gore among Curry County voters in the judge’s race, but Hensley “shellacked” Gore in Roosevelt County, the Clovis News-Journal reported.
Hensley and Worley both ran as Democrats. There were no Republicans on the primary ballot for either position.
1960: An inbound Santa Fe freight train derailed in the Clovis yards.
No injuries were reported, but one box car turned over and six others were “jack-strawed along the side of (the) tracks,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
Some railroaders were sitting in a yardmaster’s shanty near the derailment and shouted warning to others.
“The shack was evacuated with extreme haste,” the newspaper reported.
1960: Clovis school board members fired basketball coach Gene Sheward after three seasons, but declined to provide their reason in a public meeting.
Sheward said his record had improved each season he coached in Clovis, despite increasingly difficult schedules.
He said he was asked to resign, but “the only way you can get rid of me is to fire me,” he told the board. It did, hiring Robert Henry as his successor moments later.
1967: Allsups 7-11 Stores advertised six stores in Clovis-Portales.
Specials included:
• Ice-cold watermelons 10 cents per pound;
• Golden ripe bananas 10 cents per pound;
• Ten-pound bag of potatoes: 39 cents;
• Free bread with purchase of barbecue chicken.
1970: Former Curry County Commissioner George B. Stockton, 85, died at Day’s Nursing Home.
He homesteaded in the Forrest community in 1906 and served two terms on the Curry County Commission beginning in the late 1930s.
Burial was scheduled for the Beevers Cemetery in Forrest.
1973: Arvel W. Branscum, Ben K. Luck, and Carroll K. Wilson received President's Faculty Awards from Eastern New Mexico University at the close of the spring semester.
Branscum, who was retiring, joined the faculty in 1940 and had most recently served as chairman of the department of business administration and an associate professor in business administration. He was honored for his "loyalty and service in the best interest of the university, and for his effective counseling and advice as well as continual interest in the students," according to the ENMU press release.
Luck, who had been at Eastern since 1964, was chair of the psychology department and an associate professor of psychology. He received recognition for his "effective teaching and counseling, the development of the psychology internship programs, and the development of psychology department faculty."
Wilson, an associate professor of mathematics and chair of the math department, joined the staff at ENMU in 1946. His award was given for "leadership in civic and religious activities and in mathematics education, as well as dedicated teaching and student counseling," the release noted
1975: Debbie Davis set a state record, tossing the discus 127 feet, 5 inches to lead Clovis’ girls to the Class AA state track championship held in Portales.
The Wildcats won the 880- and 440-yard relays, finished second in the mile relay and finished third in the 880-yard medley.
“I don’t feel like Tom Landry anymore, unable to win the big one,” said CHS coach George Ross.
It was actually the first year Clovis’ girls had fielded a track team, though individuals began competing in girls track and field events in 1973, the Clovis News-Journal reported.
1978: The Altrusa Club of Clovis, under the leadership of President Nancy Taylor, was gearing up for its ninth annual Mother's Day Smorgasbord.
The three-hour event was held in the Clovis High School cafeteria, and served as both a fundraiser and service project for the club.
"The Altrusans give their Mother's Day weekend to this project in hopes that the effort will add to the joy of Mother's Day for the ladies of the community," the Clovis News-Journal reported, "and at the same time provide a means for the club's projects for the coming year."
Tickets were $3 for adults and $2 for children, and the smorgasbord included fried chicken, roast beef, and fruit tarts.
1982: Orpheon, Men of Song were scheduled to present their fourth annual spring concert at KWKA Theatre, 205 Main St., in Clovis.
The organization featured "business and professional men, farmers and representatives of Cannon Air Force Base and retired men with the Clovis community," the Clovis News-Journal reported.
Harry Barton, longtime choral director at Clovis High School, directed Orpheon.
The choir was accompanied by pianist Vi Petty.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
