Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1946: Margaret Moore, who lived at 323 Prince St., was preparing to celebrate her 25th year as a registered nurse in Clovis.
The Clovis News-Journal reported “Maggie” had worn out 240 uniforms in her career.
Nursing had kept her so busy that she “never had time for courtship and marriage,” reporter Kathryn Bomar wrote.
1950: Clovis Police Chief George Ray was dismissed by the Clovis city commission.
The action came in the wake of dismissal of a radio operator who allegedly had been drinking before reporting for duty, driving a police car for personal use and allowing his fiancé to visit him in the office, against regulations.
Police Capt. Daniel Webster was named acting chief.
1950: Rev. H. B. Strickland, best known for leading revival meetings in the 1920s, died of a heart attack in Burbank, Calif.
Strickland was pastor of the First Baptist Church in Texico in the early 1900s and conducted revivals in Dora, Portales and other area communities. He was buried in Lockney, Texas.
1951: Faculty at Eastern New Mexico University had received raises averaging 8% to 10% for the 1951-52 school year.
Eight faculty members were granted tenure, while six others had announced their resignations.
1956: A 19-year-old Clovis woman was fined $15, plus court costs, and sentenced to five days in the county jail after she pleaded guilty to public drunkenness.
Six men arrested in the same incident each received fines of $15 plus court costs, but no jail time. The woman ran from the sheriff’s office while the others were being booked, though she later turned herself in.
“This is gonna do me more good than anything,” she told Jailer Floyd Talley.
1960: Mrs. Dick Page had been installed as president of the Elida Parent-Teacher Association. She was planning to attend the state convention April 28-30 in Santa Fe.
1960: Student art was on display at the music building foyer at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales.
Paintings created by eight students from around the country were on display, including those by Patricia Harris Crane of House and Dan Dacus of Portales.
1969: Winds described as “tornado like” had resulted in the destruction of buildings and other damage south of Clovis.
Veterinarian Jerry Gleason reported two buildings were destroyed at 1717 S. Prince.
“Dr. Gleason said today that he and a group of other employees were just beginning surgery on a cow when the storm struck,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
“Gleason ... said that the voltage lines in the metal barn in which they were working broke.”
“The whole place lit up and sparks flew everywhere,” Gleason told the newspaper.
Near the Gleason property, Mrs. Charles Stanfield said several limbs were blown down and the roof was lifted off a rabbit hutch near her home.
Damage was also reported at the Yucca Drive In, while the downtown Clovis area reported hail covered the streets and yards and “beat flowers to the ground.”
1973: Portales businessman Wayne Stratton was the newest member of the Eastern New Mexico University Board of Regents, appointed to the position by Gov. Bruce King.
"Wayne Stratton is certainly a leading citizen of Portales," King said in making the appointment, "and I know he will do an excellent job as a regent at Eastern New Mexico University."
The United Press International article reported Stratton was the Roosevelt County distributor for Shamrock Oil, and chairman of the board of Security Financial Services in Portales.
Stratton and three of his five children were graduates of ENMU.
1975: Mr. and Mrs. Joe Rogers of 2209 Moberly Drive in Clovis were looking for witnesses to the “senseless and cruel shooting of our house cat” on April 14.
The Rogers’ said the injured cat “crawled almost home,” but their veterinarian was not able to save him.
“As for the man who did it, go look in the mirror at yourself and see if you like what you see there,” they wrote in a letter to the editor.
1983: The Clovis High School basketball program was gearing up to host its fifth annual recreation basketball camp in late May, under the direction of head coach Jimmy Joe Robinson.
Three former Clovis all-Americans had signed on to assist with the five-day camp: Texas Tech University's Bubba Jennings, University of New Mexico's Nelson Franse, and Eastern New Mexico University's John Robbins.
The camp was open to students in grades 1-12. Besides a T-shirt and a notebook, each camper could look forward to individual instruction, a three-on-three round robin tournament, special awards, guest speakers, and "an opportunity to play against the best competition in the area," the Clovis News-Journal reported.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
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