Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1945: The victory over Japan as announced by President Truman was celebrated by a group of 15 young people who met at Portales’ West Side Baptist Church.
The program consisted of prayers, songs and a testimony.
1946: The third annual water carnival had been scheduled at Hillcrest pool in Clovis.
The carnival consisted of 37 swimming and diving competitions in four divisions.
A beauty contest wrapped up the evening with 13 girls competing for a $25 prize.
The swimming and diving events also offered prizes, including $3 for each first-place finish.
1950: Clovis stood last in the West Texas-New Mexico League baseball standings, trailing leader Pampa by 28 1/2 games. Making matters worse, Pioneers shortstop Bill Ehrhardt was hospitalized with a concussion after a bad-hop ball smacked him in the left eye in an 8-7 loss to Albuquerque.
1957: Clovis was in the midst of five consecutive days of rain. Officials reported 2.37 inches had fallen on the city by the end of the wet spell.
1965: Clovis police reported burglars entered Gary Pahl’s home at 1401 E. 11th and stole a $60 ring and six record albums.
A home at 1120 Rencher was “ransacked,” the Clovis News-Journal reported, and thieves took a watch and purse.
And Lester Merrill, who lived southwest of Clovis, reported three tractor headlights had been stolen, along with multiple tools.
1970: Fort Sumner opened its Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation state monument. The site honors the Mescalero Apache and Navajo people forced by the U.S. Army to march hundreds of miles to the fort five miles southeast of Fort Sumner in 1863. The monument’s initial cost totaled $40,000, including $25,000 approved by Fort Sumner residents in a bond election.
1971: Officials announced a 10,000-head cattle feeder operation was scheduled to open in a month near Portales.
The feedlot was being built on land formerly owned by Dr. William Black, a Portales veterinarian. It was to be located six miles south and two miles east of the Lovington Highway.
It would become the second commercial feedlot in Roosevelt County. Anderson-Hamman Inc., north of Portales, was feeding 15,000 head, the Clovis News-Journal reported.
1973: Workers began laying a foundation for the new La Casita Elementary School at Fifth and Reid streets in Clovis.
Page and Wirtz Construction Co. of Amarillo had been hired to build the school, which would cost $671,000.
The school was scheduled for completion in June 1974, in time for the 1974-75 school year.
1975: Funeral services were being planned for Fronie Caviness, Crockett Sparks and Dorf Garrison, all of Portales.
Caviness, 81, had lived in Roosevelt County since 1911. Her funeral was at the Causey Baptist Church.
Sparks, 74, was a retired Clovis merchant. Services were planned for Wheeler Starlight Chapel in Portales with Kenneth Broad officiating.
Garrison, 89, a farmer, had been a resident of Roosevelt County since 1907.
1980: Students were preparing to start classes at Eastern New Mexico University’s Clovis branch.
Ted Jacobs was teaching a mid-management program, which he said had recently received “computerized cash registers.”
Jacobs said the classes tried to stay ahead of technology with the latest equipment.
Classes were scheduled to begin on Aug. 25.
1987: The Hillcrest Park Zoo added new exhibits, including wolves and foxes.
The zoo received Mexican Lobo wolves, which were displayed next to the monkeys.
The zoo also welcomed a pair of arctic and silver foxes.
1987: The Clovis Powerlifting Club prepared for its Five State Powerlifting Championships that were held at the North Plains Mall.
The championships covered nine weight classes and had an entry fee of $35.
The event was sponsored by the Clovis YMCA.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
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