Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1950: A solid red flying saucer, traveling at an estimated speed of 1,000 mph, was spotted near Eunice in Lea County.
Ruth Hedgpath and her husband C.E. Hedgpath both said they witnessed the object hovering about 500 feet.
It was silent and left no vapor trail, they reported.
1951: Portales Builders and Supply, located on the Lovington Highway, claimed it offered 1,322 paint colors.
“Pastels, accents, deep tones — all the colors you’ve ever wanted, for perfect color harmony in your home!” read an ad in the Portales Daily News.
1960: While services at the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Portales went on without interruption, a few church members quietly extinguished small fires in classrooms that may have been intentionally set.
One fire broke out in a book case containing papers for a children’s Bible study class. In another room, a box of clothing intended for the needy was ablaze.
Church members saw the flames and carried the book case and clothing box outside, eliminating any danger before firefighters arrived.
Visiting Preacher Perry Cotham, invited to preach revival services, said he was not aware of the fires as he delivered his sermon.
1965: Highland Youth Shop, formerly Dorothy’s Children’s Shop at No. 6 Highland Shopping Center, was promoting “Super Farex slacks” with “built-in neatness.”
A newspaper ad claimed, “Wear ’em, wash ’em, but never iron ’em.”
1966: A vacant farmhouse northeast of Farwell had been broken into for the third time in recent weeks.
Parmer County Sheriff Charles Lovelace said burglars took “small items and gasoline” in the latest incident.
1971: Clovis city leaders reported “no significant reasons for jubilation” about Clovis’ chances of being on a Railpax train route that would connect Kansas City to Los Angeles.
Clovis Chamber of Commerce Manager Bob Spencer and others had traveled to a meeting in Washington with hopes of keeping passenger service running through Clovis.
Efforts failed and passenger trains stopped going through Clovis regularly on May 1, 1971, when the Santa Fe Railroad discontinued service.
1973: More than 500 people attended Roosevelt County’s 70th birthday party at the Portales High School auditorium, many of them people who had moved to the area even before it officially became a county in the territory of New Mexico in 1903.
The oldest county resident in attendance was Helen Lindsey Armstrong, 74, daughter of Washington Lindsey, the first Portales resident to serve as governor of New Mexico.
Portales’ other former governor, John Burroughs, gave the welcome address for the event, congratulating the Roosevelt County Historical Society and Eastern New Mexico University for their work in preserving the history of the area.
1979: Clovis newspaper ads on this date included:
• Chicken fry steak dinner for $2.59 from Sirloin Stockade, located at 218 E. Mabry Drive. That was the Wednesday special.
• Jim’s Texaco at First and Prince was offering an oil change, oil filter and wash job for $16.95. Jim’s was formerly known as Bart’s Texaco.
• The full meal special deal — two pieces of chicken, potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, a roll and cherry pie — was $1.88 at Kentucky Fried Chicken. The restaurant was at 2113 N. Main.
• Diamond Gems offered a coupon: “Cut me out and bring me to 1600 W. 21st and Paul will ultrasonically clean your rings free.”
• Lawana’s Beauty Salon at 2909 Ross offered classic perms for $12 and uni perms for $18.
1988: While it was typical for about half of all students who applied to medical school to receive rejection letters, in 1987, an impressive 85.7% of Eastern New Mexico University pre-med students had received acceptances to further their education.
“We’ve just had smashing success,” according to Dr. Gary Pfaffenberger, an ENMU biology professor and member of the Allied Health Advisory Board.
Also quoted in the Clovis News-Journal article was Dr. Lonnie Alexander, the newest member of the Allied Health Advisory Board and a 1978 ENMU graduate who practiced medicine for decades in eastern New Mexico.
“The program is demanding enough that you learn to study,” Alexander said. “People assume you have to be brilliant, at the top of your class, to be successful in medical school. In fact, to be successful in medical school, it takes reasonable intelligence, and broad-based, well-rounded experiences.”
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
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