In depth: Lineman for the county

At a glance

Clayton Hammond Barber

Born: Dec. 19, 1971, in Fort Benning, Georgia

Next month: Oscar Robinson calls himself an Eisenhower baby and says he grew up in the right time to watch his country change: "I went from Jim Crow's South to an integrated America." Betty Williamson tells Robinson's story in The News on April 1.

PORTALES - Clayton Barber, a lineman for the Roosevelt County Electric Cooperative, says he is exactly where God wants him to be.

The Portales resident grew up on a ranch near Grady, 30 miles from the nearest convenience store. In his younger years, he also spent a lot of time in Florida living the cowboy life.

He had his share of wild times as a young man, but is now a dedicated Christian.

Cody Morrow, lifelong friend who lives on a ranch near the Capulin Volcano National Monument in northeastern New Mexico, said, "Clayton's current theme song is 'Lineman for the County.' At one time, it might have been 'All my Rowdy Friends are Comin' Over Tonight.'"

Living the High Plains life

Although Barber has lived in more scenic places, he would not trade them for the High Plains of eastern New Mexico.

"I have lived in greener places. I have lived in wetter places. I have lived in places where the wind hardly ever blows," Barber said.

"I have lived in places where you could walk out your back door and go fishing. I have lived in places where there are so many things to do it's hard to choose one.

"You will be hard-pressed, though, to find a place with nicer people than around here. I absolutely love the wide open spaces, the beautiful sunsets, sunrises and the star-filled nights."

Dead frogs and singed eyebrows

Barber began working for the Roosevelt County Electric Cooperative in 2003. His duties include connecting and disconnecting power to structures, repairs and general maintenance of lines.

He gets special satisfaction from "trouble calls" during and after normal work hours to restore customers' power.

"You never know what you're getting into during storms or when you are getting to go home," Barber said. "It's physically and mentally demanding work."

With few exceptions, customers are understanding about power being out. Many have brought food to them, and some have even told his crew to go home and get a good night's sleep and come back the next day.

"That's just not in our blood," Barber said.

Appreciative customers is a stark contrast to the time he was helping in Houston after Hurricane Rita and a property owner came out with a .357 and ordered them to leave. They quickly obliged.

His least favorite task is having to turn customers' power off when they get too far behind in payments. But it's part of the job.

His co-workers are like brothers, he said.

"We are the biggest bunch of jokesters and have a lot of fun with each other," Barber said. "However, when it's time to get serious and do 'hot' work, there isn't one guy I wouldn't trust my life with. We are very tight-knit and look after each other."

Cade Standifer, a co-worker, said Barber is "always in a great mood no matter the situation. He takes his work seriously and is a very safe and capable lineman.

"It's a pleasure working with him."

Although too technical to detail, his most memorable experience was about 13 years ago when a contractor failed to follow protocol on a substation south of Causey.

After failing to re-fill some equipment with oil, when the power was turned on about 3 a.m., "it went off like a small bomb and lit up the night like daylight," Barber said. "When we arrived we found a substation full of dead frogs, an exploded 'recloser,' the contractor's burnt trailer and some wide-eyed co-workers with singed hair and eyebrows."  

Spending eternity in Oprah's penthouse

Even though the pay in his second job as a Sunday school teacher is zero, he takes it as seriously as his lineman's job.

"God dragged me into that one kicking and screaming," Barber said. "However, I wouldn't give it up now for all the money in the world."

His Facebook page is reflective of his dedication to Christianity.

An example of his posts:

"The truly wise man is he who always believes The Bible against the opinion of any man." - R. A. Torrey

Barber says it is a prevailing notion you can believe whatever you want and it will be true for you.

"I believe that if I click my heels three times right before I die that I will spend eternity in Oprah's penthouse, but that doesn't make it true," Barber said. "I am so thankful truth found me."

The 1990 Grady High School graduate says his mom would drive the kids to Clovis on Sundays where they would attend church, eat lunch at Hubby's and shop for groceries at Albertson's.

"I always believed in God," Barber said. "However, I was in no way saved. My belief was in a God I had constructed in my mind.

"If you would have met me through these young years and into high school, you would have thought, 'Now there's a nice young man, well-mannered, opens the door for people, says yes sir and no ma'am, takes his hat off when meeting women.'

"You might have thought I was a perfect rural Christian young man. However, I was not at all."

His mom, Leigh (Hammond) Willmon, said, "Clayton became a great cowboy and horseman. For a time, he lived with his cousin in a cave in the Gila Wilderness, where they caught wild cattle.

"As his mom, I am proud of his accomplishments, but mostly proud of the outspoken man-of-God that he has become."

The former two-year med student (before dropping out) at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, says outwardly he could look like the perfect Christian others thought he should be, but inwardly he felt like a fraud.

"From junior high on, and especially after college, I proceeded to do everything under the sun," Barber said. "I had absolutely everything the world had to offer and everything that it says is success and brings happiness."  

Morrow said, "Clayton's the friend you have on speed dial because no matter your predicament, he's got your back. He's a fervent believer in Jesus and exudes this by being one of the most gregarious, fun-loving and most caring people I know."

According to Barber, in 2003 his grandmother, Helene "Mimi" Hammond, died and during the funeral God began to open his eyes to "the Truth."

Several weeks later he was lying in bed watching TV and "through the preaching of (God's) Word and the enlightenment of his Holy Spirit, he saved me."

Wade Fraze, head girls' basketball coach at Portales High School who attended Grady High School with Barber, said his childhood friend "hasn't changed all that much from our days when we were younger, but, on the other hand, he is totally changed. 

"Clayton's life is evidence of the change that Jesus Christ can make and one that so much of the world doesn't understand. It has nothing to do with religion but everything to do with a relationship with Christ. 

"Clayton has found that all the things that this world promises are empty and unfulfilling compared to what a relationship with Jesus offers."

Barber said he was shown if he tells one lie he is a liar, steals one thing he is a thief, uses God's name in vain he is a blasphemer and looks at a woman with lust he is an adulterer.

"I knew I had done all those things and those were just four of the Ten Commandments," Barber said. "I knew I was a sinner and if God is just - and he is - he had to send me to hell.

"Since that day I have not wavered in being amazed that God would come down and save a complete wretch like me. I have continued to seek out the Truth ... I have committed my life to telling others about him." 

Wild horses and the Gila Wilderness

Barber, whose hobbies include taking scenic pictures, riding all-terrain vehicles in the sandhills with his family and hunting arrowheads, once spent several months, off and on, in New Mexico's Gila Wilderness.

He'd help cousins and friends gather wild cattle and horses. "There were also more dogs than we could count," he remembered.

They lived in a box canyon on Salpillo Creek and camped in "Cow Catcher Cave."

Barber recalled, "We'd leave one horse pinned up in our box canyon by a fence we'd put up from cliff to cliff across the creek. My cousin would go gather up the other horses. We'd feed them, saddle what we would ride for the day and let others out to graze.

"Then we'd take off and find some wild cows and take them to Deming to sell.

"Now this was before God saved me and the stories out there are very wild ones and we had a great time."

Fraze said Barber was "always not just the life of the party, but the life of anywhere he was. He has always lived life to the fullest." 

Barber described the Gila as "one of God's greatest creations, and one man has not ruined yet. It's some of the prettiest and wildest country in the world. I cannot express in words how much I love that place."

Shooting coyotes on way to school

Barber's parents rodeoed for Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. His mom grew up in Clovis and, after his parents divorced, he grew up on his grandfather's Hammond Ranch 30 miles northwest of Clovis.

While Barber was in the fourth grade, an aunt and uncle, Frank and Martha Richardson, moved there to work on the ranch, bringing four boy cousins - Ryon, Jory and twins Kiley and Kelsey - to join his sister Regan (Jackson) and him.

They attended school in Grady, a 20-mile drive on dirt roads. When they rode the bus, it took at least an hour because of detours to pick up other kids.

"My granddad (Lee Ross Hammond) was one of the crankiest men you've ever met," Barber said. "The locals would take bets every time he hired someone on how long they would last. The great thing about growing up working for him was that later in life I could work for anyone.

Barber says he couldn't have asked for a better place to grow up.

"We were on horseback a lot of days. We built forts out of different materials all over that place.

"We always had a gun with us no matter what we were doing and shot rabbits and coyotes every chance we got - even driving back and forth to school."

Grady schools had a life skills class and students got to bring their guns to school and shoot skeet.

"Back then everyone had a gun in their vehicles in the school parking lot and no one cared," Barber said.

Morrow said, "Clayton is a man ahead of his time. He was carrying concealed long before it was a thing ...

"He's a brilliant philosophizer - some of which, in the past, wasn't appropriate for Sunday. 

"It's a wonder we're still alive after some of the antics of our youth, but, boy, do we have some good stories to tell."

In school, Barber participated in basketball and FFA.

"I was absolutely blessed to be in FFA under Storm Gerhart and under Jimmy Joe Robinson in basketball," Barber said. "They taught me so much about working hard and doing your best."

Barber's neighbors might live 15 miles away, but they could always rely on each other for help. He has especially fond memories of the Moberlys - Larry, Jeanie, Cody and Patty - helping out on or off horseback with chores.

Each summer and every other Christmas Barber would fly on an airplane by himself to see his dad, Clint, in Florida. While there, he rode horses and got paid $10 a day to help gather wild cattle. They also used dogs and bullwhips to round the cattle up.

His dad now lives in Stephenville, Texas, but his family has a long history in Florida. Barber's grandmother, Mary Ida Bass Barber, wrote a book called "Florida's Frontier: The Way Hit Wuz." 

It is mainly about the Barber-Mizell feud from the 1800s. She was a Mizell who married a Barber while tensions were still high.    

Barber's wife, Cheryl grew up in California on a dairy. Their family moved to Portales in 1988 and Barber worked with her mom at Portales Homes - where her mom set them up.

"We have been through some great things, some horrible things and everything in between," Barber said. "I love her more than she will ever know and I am horrible at showing her, but I am trying to get better."

They have an "absolutely wonderful" daughter, Cree, who is active in sports and recently won an essay contest which will pay her way to Washington, D.C., in June.

Philosophy of life

Barber's ultimate goal is "to be a faithful witness for Jesus Christ and to teach others about him."

He finds profound meaning in "worshiping the one true God who gave me life."  

Barber's philosophy of life is "I am a great sinner and Jesus is a great savior."