Honoring pioneer women

CLOVIS - Just after the turn of the century, the Clovis-Curry County Chamber of Commerce, with the help of Curry County pioneer woman Frances Blackburn, first created the Pioneer Women's Breakfast. That was a small but important gesture to honor women who helped build Curry County while they were still alive to be honored.

With each passing year, those pioneer women go on to homestead in whatever afterlife awaits us. But plenty of memories remained as the breakfast entered its 18th year on Friday.

"Some of the pioneer women have passed on," Chamber Executive Director Ernie Kos said to the Clovis Civic Center crowd, "but the pioneer spirit lives on."

Representatives from Farmer's Electric and Plateau, two of the area's longest-standing businesses, spoke of the pioneering spirit while the crowd made up of residents young and old had a breakfast of biscuits, eggs, bacon and sausage and plenty of white gravy with just a touch of green chile.

Thom Moore of Farmer's spoke about his mother, and how women like her would put their sons and husbands first in ways that seem unfair today.

"If it wasn't for the strength of pioneer women, I wouldn't' be here today. My wife wouldn't be here today. My children wouldn't be here today."

Moore noted the biscuits his mother would make. They were in much smaller batches than would feed a Civic Center crowd, but they had a larger place in his heart.

"You could eat those biscuits dry," Moore said, noting the constant use of the biscuit cutter and flour sifters. "I miss those biscuits. I miss my mama."

Moore mentioned one particular anecdote about the early days of the county, and how it applied to the electric cooperative. While power outages now can be reported via smartphone, the area's earliest electric customers had to report outages by postcard.

David Robinson of Plateau credited some of the important pioneering women of Clovis, whether they homesteaded or not. He mentioned Evelyn Patterson, Plateau's first female employee; V. Scott Johnson, who helped establish Clovis' first hospital; Esther Van Soelen, Clovis' first female attorney; and Wilma Fulgham, Clovis' first state fair queen in 1950.

Fulgham, one of the staples of Pioneer Days every year, of course was at the breakfast. She spoke of the family that set up her life on the High Plains, starting with her grandparents homesteading in 1906, less than a mile over the Texas border. She said her grandparents filed for the first marriage license in Parmer County.

"I have a great passion for this area," Fulgham said, "because this is my home."

Robinson also gave a nod to Frank Blackburn, marshal for the Saturday parade, for his work with Plateau. He noted one winter storm in 1952 where Blackburn fixed his own phone line.

"I hit the snow and ice off with a stick," Blackburn said. "One part of the line was broken. I tied it back together, and we had service again."

Kos said Frances Blackburn, Frank's mother who died in 2014, was instrumental in establishing the event, and was underrated as both a photographer and an audience recruiter for so many breakfasts.