Pages past — June 3

On this date ...

1955: The city of Clovis had set a record with construction of 254 new homes the first five months of the year.

The previous record for homes built January through May, set in 1952, was 249, the Clovis News-Journal reported.

Officials said construction costs for the year’s first five months were about $15 million in the city; that included costs for new homes and remodeling existing homes.

1941: The Portales Daily News reported that Will Bates of Pep had become a father — for the 19th time.

Lloyd Travis Bates was the most recent addition to the family, born May 26.

Transitions ...

1973: Dory Funk Sr., one of the High Plains’ most popular professional wrestlers and the father of wrestlers Dory Jr. and Terry Funk, died at age 54.

The Indiana native performed multiple times in the Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico, but also helped popularize the sport, promoting champions he recruited from West Texas State University’s football team.

Funk died of a heart attack after wrestling with friends at his home in Umbarger, Texas.

He was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006.

Pages Past is compiled by Editor David Stevens. For more regional history, check out his weblog at:

www.highplainsyesterdays.com