Pages past - May 11

On this date ...

1978: Funeral services were held in Plainview, Texas, for Horace Melvin Gebo, 64, founder of Gebo's, a 14-store chain of agriculture supply stores located across the High Plains.

Gebo was killed May 8 when the helicopter he was piloting became entangled in electrical lines and crashed a few hundred yards behind the Gebo's store in Brownfield, Texas.

A native of Mound, Minnesota, Gebo started his first farm store in Plainview about 20 years earlier. All of the Gebo's stores across the region were closed on the day of the funeral.

1973: About 300 Boy Scouts from Portales, Clovis, Cannon Air Force Base, Fort Sumner, Elida, and Melrose got more than they bargained for when the El Llano Grande District Spring Camporee nearly washed away in a deluge of rain on the opening night of a weekend-long outdoor event.

The boys had pitched tents on the Red West ranch, a few miles south of Fort Sumner, only hours before fierce storms hit the area, dumping from 2 to 4 inches of rain over two hours.

Fort Sumner Deputy Sheriff Earl Turnbough told the Clovis News-Journal that 30 of the boys whose sleeping bags were soaked were taken to the Fort Sumner High School gymnasium for the remainder of the night, before rejoining their fellow Scouts at the soggy campsite for the rest of the weekend.

Pages Past is compiled by Betty Williamson. Contact her at:

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