Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1941: The Antler’s Bar promised “We serve and prepare your favorite drink the way you like it best.”
The place to “Meet your friends” was at 111 W. Grand in Clovis. The phone number was 235.
1952: Edd’s Bar, located three miles north of Grady, encouraged customers to “Organize a party, come dance, have fun,” in newspaper ads.
1956: Clovis Junior High School officials had plans to install an iron barrier and fence around the campus as precautionary measures.
John Abernathy, 13, had recently been injured when struck by a car driven by another junior high student.
Abernathy suffered a fractured left wrist and bruises as a result of the accident.
The iron barrier would be installed to “close off North Pile Street” while a fence would be erected on the west side of the campus next to Main Street.
“Due to the increased traffic as a result of paving Main and the continued growth of the northern part of Clovis, every precaution must be taken to prevent accidents on Main as well as Pile,” Principal Harlan Beasley told the Clovis News-Journal.
1961: Joel Smith had arrived in Portales to assume duties as manager of the Tower and Varsity theaters.
Smith was transferred to Portales from Crane, Texas.
He was married with three children and one grandson. His oldest son was the backfield coach for Texas A&I College in Kingsville.
Asked about his first impression of Portales, Smith said: “When people on the street speak to a stranger like I am, I know I’m in a happy town.”
1962: Vic Harrington, Texico’s student body president, turned the first shovel of earth for the new Texico High School.
Officials said the new school, located immediately north of the present building, would be completed in time for classes in the fall at a cost of $155,589.
1963: A team of male teachers from the Clovis schools handily beat the Marshall Junior High ninth-grade boys’ basketball team in the annual faculty-student game held to raise funds for athletic equipment and assemblies for the following school year.
Enthusiastic crowd members paid 25 cents apiece to watch the action in the Marshall Gymnasium, as the faculty members handed the students a 43-27 loss.
Members of the faculty team included Jerry Blakeley, Martin Boyd, Marvin Boyer, Gracey Capps, Delman Farris, Delbert Gehrett, Pat Gant, James Hopkins, Bill McDaniel, James Medford, Ralph Miller, Harry Pomeroy, Jimmy Joe Robinson and Tommy Smith.
1966: The Washington’s Birthday Sale at Trader’s in Clovis featured multiple specials, including toaster ovens for 22 cents (limited quantity), a 12-inch personal portable TV for 22 cents (with purchase of a General Electric color TV), and maple magazine stands for $9.22.
Trader’s Furniture Carpet and GE Appliances was located at 109-111 Main in Clovis.
1968: Clovis school teachers had voted not to join Albuquerque teachers in the first teacher strike in New Mexico history. Ralph Miller, president of the Clovis Education Association, said Clovis and other area teachers felt the actions of the Albuquerque teachers were “premature.”
Area teachers were opposing a strike because they wanted to give Gov. David Cargo time to work out school finance disputes.
One day later, all 108 public schools in Albuquerque closed as 2,900 teachers walked off the job, demanding Cargo call a special legislative session. Cargo said he could not call a special session until he could present a workable plan.
1971: Clovis and Portales each received about 2 inches of snow, but strong winds left foot-tall drifts around the region.
Travel was discouraged, especially north and east where Amarillo received 15 inches of snow.
Officials said 6-foot drifts were reported in the Texas Panhandle.
1975: Burglars broke into the Eastern New Mexico University-Clovis branch business office and hauled off a 300-pound file cabinet safe.
The safe contained numerous check and an unknown amount of cash and business records, officials said.
The empty safe was recovered along the roadside south of Clovis.
1976: The Plains Inn Café in Portales was pleased to announce, “Victor Hornal is back to serve you. Victor has over 30 years experience in cooking the fine dinners that you have come to expect.”
The Plains was open from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, from 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturdays and from 7 a.m. to noon on Sundays.
1977: American Legion Dean Lucas Post No. 25 hosted the last meeting of the Last Squad Club.
The group formed, with 160 members, on Memorial Day 1939. Last Squad members had to be members of Post 25 before April 24, 1939, and remain in good standing as Legionnaires.
They met annually each Memorial Day, per their charter, which also required disbanding when only eight members remained.
On Memorial Day 1976, the squad had 11 members.
“Since then, W.D. ‘Doc’ Gattis, A.R. Robertson and C.C. McDaniel have died,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
Only five of the final eight members were able to attend the last meeting.
1986: Sandra Gutierrez was preparing for her last regular-season home game on the basketball court at Eastern New Mexico University.
The Portales News-Tribune described Gutierrez as “certainly one of the most exciting players ever to grace a Zia uniform.”
Wrote newspaper Managing Editor Scot Stinnett:
“It’s a scene that has been repeated hundreds of times in the past four years at Eastern New Mexico University.
“Gliding downcourt with her head swiveling and her large brown eyes on high beam, she weaves and feints. At the top of the key, her stare bores into the eyes of the defender and the enemy freezes – the only advantage she’ll need.
“The pass may come from any one of a hundred different angles, but it will come and will arrive on target at a time when her teammate can lay it in for an easy bucket.
“In the stands, people just shake their heads. It is a pass that females supposedly can’t make – but she makes it every night.”
1987: A man already serving a life sentence for killing a Clovis widow had been sentenced to additional time in prison.
Edward Lee Adams admitted to seven additional charges stemming from the Jan. 31, 1986, killing of Ola Temple. Each of the seven charges carried an additional four-year prison sentence, the Clovis News-Journal reported.
1988: South Roosevelt County farmer Carl Cox Jr. was profiled in the Clovis News-Journal for the hobby he’d pursued the past 16 years: calling square dances in eastern New Mexico and west Texas.
Cox was the weekly caller for the Melrose Whirlwinds, a group that met each week in the Melrose City Hall. He and his wife, Andrea, were also members of a square dance club in Levelland.
“It took my wife three years to get me to a square dance,” Cox said. “At my third lesson, I asked the caller if I could try calling, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
“Cox considers himself an ambassador of goodwill,” the article said, “and square dance calling is his vehicle.”
2006: Holiday Inn Express opened in Portales.
The hotel had 65 rooms, a conference room that could accommodate up to 50 people and a health/fitness center.
Rates ranged from $65 to $89 per night.
The hotel employed 15 people, including seven housekeepers.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
