Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date …
1937: Danny Villanueva was born in Tucumcari. The future kicker for the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams was the son of an itinerant Methodist preacher assigned to minister to migrant farm workers in the Quay County area.
The family moved on to their next assignment, in Phoenix, about a year later.
1946: Snowfall had blanketed more than half of New Mexico as voters headed to the polls.
Officials said some Northern New Mexico voters in rural areas might be snowbound and unable to cast ballots.
In eastern New Mexico, snow was measured at 1 1/2 inches.
Drifts had blocked several roads between Grady and San Jon, officials said.
1949: Initial work in obtaining telephone service for rural residents of eastern New Mexico got under way with the organization of the Eastern New Mexico Rural Telephone Cooperative, Inc. Its initial mission was to provide service to all rural residents desiring telephones in Curry and Quay counties.
The cooperative was organized under legislation by the 81st Congress, which allotted $25 million for phone service.
1952: Clovis’ new eastside elementary school had been officially named Parkview at a meeting of the Clovis school board.
A number of names had been suggested by parents and students for the new facility, including La Lunda, in honor of the current principal, Mervel Lunn, but the board had final say and chose Parkview.
1953: A safe belonging to Clovis Dr. Michele DeMaio was recovered in a plowed field northeast of Clovis, but the $300 in cash it once contained was missing.
The theft from the doctor’s office remained unsolved, as did the armed holdup of Clovis’ Safeway store a few days earlier.
Officials estimated the Safeway robbery netted two gunmen about $2,000. Police did not say if they believed the crimes were related.
1960: Sophomore quarterback Sonny Wiginton set three Eastern New Mexico University records and led the Greyhounds to a 27-0 win over Southwestern Oklahoma.
Wiginton passed for 203 yards, breaking his own single-game school record of 176 yards. He also broke Curtis Blair’s single-season record for passing yards and total yards with three games still to play.
ENMU officials said 4,900 homecoming fans watched the Greyhounds improve their season record to 3-4.
Wiginton, a member of ENMU’s Hall of honors, coached high school football in Texas and New Mexico after his playing career ended.
1961: Leslie Candy Co., located at 2211 W. Seventh St. in Clovis, offered “fresh, delicious homemade candy,” according to a newspaper ad.
The candymaker sold “broken pieces” for 30 cents per pound, or 4 pounds for $1.
1970: Construction on a new athletic dressing room, band practice room, industrial arts room and a classroom were about to get under way at Gattis Junior High School in Clovis.
John Cornell Inc. received the bid for the project at $142,073.
School Superintendent Vernon Mills said Cornell had 170 calendar days to complete the project.
1971: Dixie Cream Donuts at 14th and Mitchell celebrated its grand opening in Clovis. Glazed donuts were 48 cents for a half dozen. “So light, so right, so golden good, the best donuts your family ever enjoyed,” read the promotional advertising.
1971: The Flying Farmers organization was holding its state convention in Clovis.
About 100 members, from at least eight states, were expected to attend.
Mrs. Jerry Elliott of St. Vrain, wife of the group’s state president, said wintry weather conditions north of New Mexico could delay or prevent the arrival of some members.
The Flying Farmers were an international group of men and women who received “benefits derived from owning and operating an airplane,” one club members said.
1972: A rosary was held at Wheeler Mortuary in Portales for Paul Strub, dean of the School of Music at Eastern New Mexico University, who had died two days earlier following routine gallbladder surgery.
His funeral was the next morning at St. Helen’s Catholic Church, and he was buried at the Portales Cemetery.
Strub, 55, joined the faculty in 1962, and became dean in 1967.
“Paul Strub will be greatly missed by everyone that ever came in contact with him,” ENMU President Charles Meister said in a statement from the university. “He was a great leader in the field of music education and a most respected faculty member at Eastern.”
1975: The editorial page of the Clovis News-Journal included this summary:
“This newspaper is dedicated to furnishing information to our readers so that they can better promote and preserve their own freedom and encourage others to see its blessing. For only when man understands freedom and is free to control himself and all he produces can he develop to his utmost capabilities.”
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
