Articles from the April 1, 2005 edition

William A. Hawkins Services: Have been held. Mr. William A. “Willie” Hawkins, 84, of Portales, died Thursday, March 17, 2005, at Heartland Continuing Care Center in Portales. He was born on July 29, 1920, in Ardmore, Okla., to Eula Pearl and George Washington Hawkins. He attended college in Portales. After about a year he went to work for the railroad as a fireman. He progressed to engineer and eventually was promoted to the position of Road Foreman of Engineers in northern Arizona. He married Pearl Fay Stirman on July 20,...

Leotta Sarah Fryar Services: Have been held. Leotta Sarah Fryar, 91, died Tuesday, March 8, 2005, in Albuquerque. She was born on June 10, 1913, in Bellview, to Wallace and Ethel Hutchins. She was preceded in death by her husband, Oscar Fryar; a son, Oscar Fryar; a grandson, Bill Montgomery; her parents; four brothers; and a sister. Survivors include two daughters, Joyce Benge (and husband, Roy) of Albuquerque and Annie Conine of Garland, Texas; five grandchildren, Keith Benge (Carolyn) and Leland Benge, both of Albuquerque,...

VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II, who helped topple communism in Europe and left a deeply conservative stamp on the church that he led for 26 years, died Saturday night in his Vatican apartment, ending a long public struggle against debilitating illness. He was 84. “We all feel like orphans this evening,” Undersecretary of State Archbishop Leonardo Sandri told the crowd of 70,000 that gathered in St. Peter’s Square below the pope’s still-lighted apartment windows. In the massive piazza that stretches from St. Peter’s Basilica...