Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1945: Opal Jackson of the Fitzhugh Addition in Clovis received a telegram reporting the death of her husband, Pvt. James D. Jackson, on May 11 on the Okinawa Island in Japan.
Jackson had previously been reported missing in action.
The private had lived in Clovis and the Grier community all of his life, the Clovis News-Journal reported. He was 26 and survived by his wife, his mother, and two children.
1951: Clovis police, led by Chief John Droke, staged a surprise raid at the home of Ethel Jones, who lived just inside the city limits on the Portales highway.
Jones was charged with selling intoxicating liquor without a license and brought before Police Judge John Manning.
She pleaded guilty the same afternoon and paid a $300 fine.
1955: About 2 inches of rain pounded Clovis, but the city escaped large hail that wiped out wheat and cotton crops near Friona.
Officials said winds were clocked at 63 mph during the storm, but no major damage was reported.
Melrose and Fort Sumner residents were without power for more than three hours after a lightning strike “broke an insulator off a cross bar and wrapped two of the three wires together,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
1956: Eastern New Mexico University announced its summer enrollment was at 770.
The session was for eight weeks.
Almost 200 of those enrolled were doing graduate work.
1956: An estimated 1,100 women attended the opening session of a three-day gas cooking school at Clovis’ Marshall Auditorium.
Southern Union Gas Co. hosted the annual school with “King of the Kitchen” Frank Decatur White “delighting the audience with his ready patter as well as with his flair for cookery,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
1959: The Clovis Bowling Club, at 2400 W. Seventh, was offering beginner bowlers
• Free use of bowling balls
• Free bowling instructions
• Free use of bowling shoes.
The club also promised free coffee on Mondays.
The phone number to call: PO 3-3761
1960: Funeral services were being planned for a former Clovis resident who fell trying to scale the 14,000-foot Blanca Peak in Colorado.
Max Cooper, whose father J.M. Cooper was an early day Clovis settler, was killed, along with Neal Campbell. Both men worked at the Los Alamos atomic research lab.
They became separated from a group that included a dozen other climbers.
Their bodies were found at the base of a sharp drop in deep snow.
1963: The five digit Zone Improvement Program was nearing implementation and area post offices were about to receive their ZIP codes.
The Clovis Sectional Center had 21 affiliate post offices that included Clovis, Portales, Texico and Fort Sumner.
The ZIP code for Yeso would be 88136. Crossroads’ ZIP was 88114 while Bellview was 88111.
All of the ZIP codes remain the same today, although many of the rural post offices have closed, and four-digit codes have been added to the original five digits.
Clovis Postmaster Charles Stanfield stressed the importance of learning local ZIP codes.
“The ZIP code is literally the last word in mail addressing,” Stanfield said.
The numbers would improve mail-delivery times by an average of 24 hours, Stanfield said, and greatly reduce the odds of mail being delivered to the wrong address.
1967: A Clovis teenager was hospitalized after an accident suffered while he was working at a drive-in restaurant.
Gary Jones, 17, was carrying a case of empty soft drink bottles when he dropped it. “As he tried to grab the case, he jammed his arm against broken edges, severing an artery in his right arm,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
Jones was taken to Memorial Hospital by Gold Star Ambulance and admitted. Hospital officials said he was listed in good condition a day later and he was allowed visitors.
1971: At least 88 people suffered food poisoning at a wedding party in the community hall at the Grand Avenue Homes on West Grand.
Memorial Hospital officials said none of the 94 treated were critically ill.
Almost five dozen were admitted to the hospital for treatment, incuding the groom, Johnny Chavez. His wife, Carolyn Garcia Chavez, was reported “slightly sick” but she was not admitted to the hospital, the Clovis News-Journal reported.
None of the victims died and the last of those admitted to the hospital were released three days later.
Officials said the cause of the illnesses was most likely tainted potato salad.
1975: Santa Fe Archbishop Rev. Robert Sanchez was making plans to visit all of the Catholic parishes in the Clovis-Portales area.
“The complexities of the times with its inherent changes necessitates my movement among the people,” he said.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
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