Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1946: Portales hosted a veterans rally and barbecue.
Republican senatorial candidate Patrick Hurley and Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Safford were guest speakers.
About 2,000 people turned out.
1950: Most of Roosevelt County was underwater. The Portales Daily News reported the region had gone from “drought to deluge” in 10 days.
Boating on “Main Street Canal” was popular following a night of heavy rain. Bennie Zeigenfuss and John Parker launched their rubber life rafts at First National bank and floated down Main to the Arch Highway lake, the newspaper reported.
“They might have been able to float clear to Arch. Water was running curb to curb all over town during the 2.75 inch deluge.”
1951: Clovis Chamber of Commerce officials were warning area residents that peddlers were in town.
The Chamber’s Better Business Bureau asked residents to let it know if they were solicited by “outside interests;” Chamber officials also asked the peddlers themselves to report to the Chamber before seeking to sell things or work in the city.
1955: Water tables in the Portales Valley had dropped about 20 feet from January 1950 to January 1955, according to a U.S. Geological Survey report.
Another report showed tables dropped 34 feet from 1932 until January 1955.
1955: A California woman visiting friends in Roosevelt County was killed in a rollover southwest of Portales.
Totsy Novella Gomez, 29, was ejected from the car she was driving and tossed 90 feet in the air, The Portales Valley News reported.
Three other women were in the car with Gomez; one was hospitalized with serious injuries and two were not injured, the newspaper reported.
1960: Portales’ garbage pickups were “almost back to normal” after a week off because of heavy rains, the Portales News-Tribune reported.
City Clerk Florence Miller said the trucks could not run because they would become bogged down in the muddy alleys.
1971: All-Around Cowboy and Cowgirl winners at the Curry County 4H Club Rodeo included Joe Calvert of Clovis and Sis Echols of Clovis.
Each received hand-tooled leather saddles.
1972: A late-afternoon storm slammed the region, wrecking two trailer homes and sending one woman to the hospital for treatment of shock.
More than an inch of rain and “a considerable amount of pea-sized hail accompanied the wind,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
The trailers were on opposite sides of State Road 18, about two miles north of Clovis.
Mrs. Tim Martin, 19, was alone in her trailer when the storm hit. She was pinned under a couch when her home overturned. When she escaped, she ran about 100 yards through heavy rain and hail to a nearby office building before she was taken to Memorial Hospital for treatment.
1972: TG&Y was hosting is summer clearance sale.
Barrel grills were $5 each.
A Suncraft picnic table with two benches went for $25.88.
A 20-inch “breeze box fan” was $12.88.
The Slip ‘N’ Slide by Wham-O was $7.88. “Just run and slide - you glide on a full cushion of water,” a newspaper ad read.
1973: Charlie Shields was a star athlete at Clovis High School, leading the football team in rushing and winning hurdles events for the track team.
Some even called him a hero - but not for sports. His actions may have saved lives at least twice that summer.
Clovis Mayor Chick Taylor presented Shields an award for saving the life of an 11-year-old boy at Potter Park’s swimming pool, the Clovis News-Journal reported.
Shields, working as a lifeguard at the pool on July 4, noticed William Scott jump into the water from the low diving board. As Shields watched, the boy appeared to “double up” under the water and failed to resurface.
The newspaper reported Shields rescued the boy and began resuscitation efforts with Steve Sena, another lifeguard.
The boy, who said he suffered a stomach cramp after diving into the water, recovered after a brief hospital stay.
That wasn’t the first time Shields was credited with preventing tragedy in the summer of 1973. The first time, he fished a young girl from the pool upon realizing she needed help after swallowing a large quantity of water.
Shields and Sena in August were honored by the New Mexico Committee on Children and Youth with the “Outstanding Youth” award for July.
2014: Bill Ellis, the editor and publisher of the Friona Star newspaper from 1962 to 2003, died at age 77.
A member of the Panhandle Press Association Hall of Fame, he was Friona Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year in 2001.
He wrote, “Friona on Parade,” in 2006, a book chronicling the history of Friona High School sports and academics.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
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