Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date …
1930: Portales’ Palo Duro Café was open day and night and promoting its Sunday dinners.
Ike Hahn’s café served chicken, steak and roast pork on Sundays. Each meal included soup, coffee, tea or milk and a dessert “in a cool, clean dining room with efficient waiters,” according to a newspaper advertisement.
The Sunday dinners cost 60 cents.
1930: A political ad published in the Portales Valley News asked, “Does a sick man call in a plumber?” The answer: “Not unless he wants to die.”
The ad went on to say New Mexico needed a business executive as its next governor, not a lawyer, to help it recover from a big-spending Republican administration.
The Democratic candidate was Arthur Seligman, “one of the state’s ablest and most successful business men.”
The Republican candidate was Clarence Botts, a lawyer who “has been associated in a legal way with corporate interests that have been served by the Republican party.”
Seligman won the election and was re-elected in 1932. He died in office on Sept. 25, 1933, at age 62.
1939: Reasy Tilford Rea of Portales had been named “American Farmer” by the National Future Farmers of America. Officials said Rea was selected from among 207,000 vocational agriculture students in the country.
1946: A 28-year-old Clovis man had been killed in an accident at the Santa Fe railroad shops.
Herman Ray Shope, who lived at 1816 Ross in Clovis, was helping load a box car onto a flat car.
As the box car was being lowered by a crane, a cable broke and dropped the box car on top of Shope.
He was survived by a wife and 5-year-old son.
1954: A Clovis jury was unable to reach a verdict after two hours of deliberating in the case of a couple accused of maintaining a “public nuisance.” Joe Archie and Virginia McKinney operated the Cobra Club at 520 W. First, a nightclub that was protested by area residents during a city commission meeting.
1956: Clovis Police Chief Ollie Damron had announced his resignation.
Damron had been associated with city police since 1951 and had been chief since May of 1953.
He said he had accepted a position as district sales manager for Western Machinery Co. of Clovis.
Damron would be succeeded by Charlie Witherspoon. He returned to the position for another three-year run in 1959.
1960: Eastern New Mexico University theater students were preparing for their production of “Romanoff and Juliet.”
Ronny Cox played the chief executive of a mythical country called Concordia.
Cox made his professional acting debut about 12 years later, playing guitar-strumming Drew Ballinger in “Deliverance.”
1962: Marching bands from 17 high schools and six junior highs in eastern New Mexico and west Texas were expected for the upcoming homecoming parade at Eastern New Mexico University.
The event was a competition for the more than 1,500 students in those marching bands.
Thirty-two twirlers were also signed up for a separate competition to be judged by ENMU majorette Kaye Kelley.
The theme of the parade was “Fifty Years of New Mexico Statehood.”
1965: The Clovis Country Club had selected its women golfers of the month for May through September. The winners were:
Dorothy Worrell, Myrna Smith, Kathryn Williams, June Ingam and Dessie Hardwick.
1965: Alexander Food Market in Clovis offered a little something extra with each purchase — Gunn Brothers stamps. The Affiliated grocery store offered double stamps on Wednesdays with a cash purchase of $2.50 or more.
1965: Bob’s Super Market at 820 W. Seventh St. in Clovis offered a pound of lima beans for 15 cents. Hair spray was 59 cents per can. “Home grown” tomatoes were $2 per bushel.
1966: Central Baptist Church of Clovis was in the midst of a week-long revival led by Rev. Fred Hubbs of Detroit. The executive secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention of Michigan was joined by Al and Ivy Walsh of Atlanta, who led the singing.
1970: The Curry County Coin Collectors’ fifth annual numismatic show opened its second day at the Clovis High School cafeteria.
Mrs. Chester Anderson was the club’s secretary. She said there were 47 active club members.
1975: Gen. George S. Brown, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, had been in Clovis to speak at the annual meeting of the Clovis Chamber of Commerce.
Brown talked about the balance of military power between the U.S. and Russia, which he said was shifting toward the Soviets.
1976: Regional corn crops appeared strong, but milo harvests were disappointing, the Clovis News-Journal reported.
A front-page photo showed 48 trucks full of corn lined up outside a grain elevator in Bovina. Officials said harvest was barely half finished.
Milo growers, however, said they were done in by an early freeze and untimely rain.
Farmers Cooperative officials in Clovis said corn storage had already reached capacity, but there was “plenty of room for milo” with 75% of the harvest completed.
1987: Eva Davis was honored for her longtime efforts on behalf of Clovis’ Black community at the annual awards banquet for the Clovis branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples.
U.S. Attorney General Raymond Hamilton was the keynote speaker. He praised Davis as a “great inspiration.”
Clovis Mayor James B. Moss called her “a great person who has done much for Clovis.”
In her response, Davis said, “If I have helped anyone along the way, then my work hasn’t been in vain.”
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
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