Pages past — Aug. 4

On this date ...

1955: Bethel farmers Cecil and Lyndon Stevens played host to a special guest — their 103-year-old grandmother, Mrs. E.J. Vaughn.

Vaughn, from Silverton, Texas, said her January birthday has been the focus of large gatherings and photo opportunities for each of the past five or six years.

“I don’t see why they take on so over me,” she told a newspaper reporter.

She described herself as an “old-school Presbyterian,” who did not like extracurricular activities on Sundays, especially expectations for housewives to prepare large Sunday dinners. “A woman never gets a Sunday rest,” she said.

She offered no advice for living a long life other than saying she always ate whatever she wanted.

Though hard of hearing, she was plenty mobile with use of a cane and had a sharp tongue. When told a grandson described her as “like a spring chicken,” she told the reporter, “He talks too much. He should mind his own business.”

1951: Authorities in Ranchvale were investigating a theft at Herb Baker’s store.

The Clovis News-Journal reported a thief unlatched a screen at the back of the store, rang up the 2 cents sign on the cash register and walked out the front door with $26.

About $20 in change was left behind.

Baker was attending a church revival service about a block away at the time of the theft, officials said.

1950: Final plans for the new Portales Hotel were in the hands of the Lambie Construction Co.

Orders were being rushed for all materials needed to complete the structure, the Portales Daily News reported.

1947: The bodies of two Clovis men had been found in the cabin of their chartered plane, which crashed about 20 miles from their destination of Eagle Nest Lake.

Jimmie Gressett and John Hardisty, both 21-year-old pilots, were planning to go fishing.

Officials said their plane crashed into the side of a narrow canyon near the top of a mountain.

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

www.highplainsyesterdays.com