In Memoriam …
CL Bowe, 89, Tucumcari, passed away on June 19, 2015. CL was was born at the Bowe Ranch near Ende on July 19, 1925. He served in the United States Army attaining the rank of Tech Sgt. CL never met a stranger and his quick wit and ready smile were a mainstay for the San Jon Community. He served the NM Baptist Convention as president and member, th San Jon Baptist Church as deacon and song leader for 43 years and the San Jon School Board for 22 years. He is survived by his wife of 62 years Wanda: his sister, Louise (Bobo) Roberts (husband, Ted); his children, Roger (wife, Debby), Rogene Musick (husband, Darrell), Russell (wife, Sandra); six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Kelly Wayne Hobbs, 54, Roswell, passed away June 5, 2015 near Raton, New Mexico doing what he enjoyed most, flying his plane. He was born on June 15, 1960 in Las Cruces to Donald C. Hobbs and June E. Hobbs, Kelly was a pilot for USDA APHIS Wildlife Services and died working for agriculture. Kelly lived in Roswell to be close to the sheep he protected. He is survived by one brother, Kenneth Ty Hobbs (wife, Maggie), Tennessee. Kelly married his high school sweetheart, Kimberly Rae Long. From this union they had two children; daughter, Vicki (husband, Kelly) Crawford; son, Donald (wife, Cassi) Hobbs, and seven grandchildren. He is also survived by aunts, uncles, cousins, and too many friends to name. He was loved by all and will be missed by many.
Shannon “Bubba” Tunnell, 33, Portales, passed in a work related plane crash on June 5, 2015 near Raton. Bubba went to hunt on the Great Mountain in Heaven. Bubba loved spending time with his family. He loved the outdoors and working with his hounds. Bubba was great at many things and left this earth doing what he loved. Bubba was employed by USDA since August 2009. He was a proud member of the NRA. He gave his life protecting agriculture. Bubba was born July 31st 1981 in Portales. He is survived by his mother Sharon Null and her husband Philip, Melrose; one brother Sonny (wife, Heather) Tunnell, Clovis; one sister Savannah (husband, Jeremy) Flack, Capitan; two brothers by marriage, Todd Martin and James Null; grandparents Alvin & Thelma Swann, Broadview; and four Hounds, Sugar Baby, Slutty, Jessie and Zee as well as many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.
Fred S. Baker, 72, well known throughout southern Arizona, died on April 10, 2013 in San Diego following complications from a heart transplant operation. Fred was born in Tucson on July 22, 1942. He graduated class of 1960 at Tucson High School, where he played clarinet and was drum major of the marching band. He attended Claremont Men’s College, graduating with a B.A. in Economics in 1964. Upon graduation, he partnered with his father in owning and operating a cattle ranch in Sonoita. Fred Baker was a conservationist in deed and spirit, as a natural consequence of his stewardship of the land as a rancher. In 1974 he was named Arizona’s Range Manager of the Year, awarded by the Society for Range Management. He was appointed to seven gubernatorial commissions, among them the Arizona Governor’s Rangeland Advisory Council, the Governor’s Commission on the Arizona Environment, and the Arizona Game & Fish Commission. Fred served the cattle industry in numerous capacities, including as president of the Southern Arizona Cattlemen’s Protective Association. In 1985, Fred transitioned from ranching into real estate, joining Headquarters West Ltd., where he would later be a co-owner. As clerk and chair of the Board of Trustees for the Sonoita School District and as a director of the Santa Cruz County Fair & Rodeo Association, he promoted education and recreation in his community. He served on the Empire Ranch Foundation Board of Directors, chairing their bylaws and nominating committees, and sharing his ranching expertise. Fred is survived by his wife of 43 years, Virginia H. Baker, and their three children, H. Robert Baker, Katherine Hamilton Baker, and Frederick William Baker, and also by his daughter, Rebecca Clark, and his niece, Carey Baker.
Burnard E. Milligan, 72, Reserve, passed away at home on March 23, 2015, surrounded by the love and comfort of his family. Burnard was born in Morenci, Arizona, on June 3, 1942. He was raised in Apache Creek on the family ranch and made his home in Reserve where he and his wife raised their family. He lived his life as a rancher, heavy equipment operator, and service station owner. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, taking care of his cows, and spending time with his grandchildren. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Lena Armstrong Milligan; his step-mother, Helen Milligan, his children Carolyn (husband, Carl) Livingston, Yvonne Milligan, Tommy (wife,Lan) Milligan, Ron (wife, Jennifer) Milligan, 13 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his sisters Verna (Frank) French and Carolyn (Mike) Naylor.
Robert Z. “Bobby” Adair, 71, Springville, California, passed away May 16, 2015, at his ranch. Bobby had been diagnosed with cancer in early March. He was born October 28, 1943 in Hugo, Oklahoma, the second son of Joe H. Adair and Ruth Nell (Neill) Adair. He attended school in Boswell, Oklahoma, until the family moved to Hagerman, New Mexico in 1959 where he completed his junior and senior years, graduating from Hagerman High School in 1961. Raised on a ranch, always surrounded by horses, Bobby knew from an early age that he wanted to be a jockey. But his schoolteacher father insisted that he graduate from high school before leaving for a racetrack. Immediately after getting his high school diploma, Bobby headed 95 miles west to Ruidoso Downs to get his start as soon as possible. In the summer of 1961, he worked as a groom at Ruidoso Downs where he met young trainer Donald Stewart who gave him his first opportunity to gallop horses and was instrumental in helping Bobby get his jockey’s license. Bobby won his first race in 1962 at Garfield Downs in Enid, Oklahoma. In the course of his career he raced at numerous venues across the country from upstate New York to Ohio, Kentucky, Kansas, and throughout the West. However Bobby spent the bulk of his riding career in California. It was at Los Alamitos where Adair was the undisputed riding king, and was known simply as “The Master.” He held every important riding record at the track including most wins, most stakes victories and most wins in a single meet. It was aboard the legendary Kaweah Bar that he won 32 races and scored some of his most memorable triumphs, including the 1972 Los Alamitos Championship. In the course of his 22-year career in horse racing, Adair was the nation’s leading quarter horse jockey for five consecutive years, and was the first jockey to be inducted into the American Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame. He won some 3,000 races. In 1984, Bobby sustained a career-ending injury, a shattered right shoulder as a result of a fall in a fog-related collision involving several horses in a race at Los Alamitos. Bobby still ranks 8th in wins among the more than 550 jockeys who have raced at Los Alamitos, and still ranks 4th in stakes victories. Following his accident, Adair worked for Los Alamitos, Santa Anita and Hollywood Park as an outrider. But for all of his accomplishments as a jockey and all of the individual accolades none of those achievements were greater than the simple pleasure he took in the horses themselves. He loved roping, and was successful, winning numerous ropings all over the West, including the US Team Roping Championship at the national finals in Oklahoma City, in 1997. Bobby met Linda Coffman in the winter of 1963 and they were married on May 14, 1964. He is survived by Linda, their daughter Julie Adair Stack (husband, John), Rowland Heights, California; his brother Buddy, Westbrook, Texas, and brother Rod Adair (wife, Dana), Roswell. He is also survived by many nieces, nephews, cousins, and countless friends, as well as one surviving aunt, Geraldine Hughes, Boswell, Oklahoma.
Ruth Nell Adair, 96, Hagerman, passed away on May 22, 2015. She had been ill for some time. Born November 2, 1918, at her family’s home in Boswell, Oklahoma, Ruth Nell was the eighth of nine children born to Joe M. Neill and Cleo Annie (Grise) Neill. Her parents were natives of Kentucky, arriving in Indian Territory around the turn of the century. In the summer of 1932, when she was 13, her mother died of appendicitis, leaving those children remaining at home to live with friends and relatives. She graduated from Boswell High School in 1936. On December 25, 1939, she married Joe H. Adair. They lived in several teacherages in the 1940s as he taught school in a number of small communities, including one-room school houses, and as Ruth Nell also taught school under an emergency war-time teaching certificate. Thereafter, Ruth Nell was a stay-at-home mother of four on the small ranch they had purchased together in 1946. In 1959, they moved their family to Hagerman. Ruth Nell worked at Irby Drug Store and then Wallace Drug Store in Hagerman until 1970. Throughout her life, she was a devout Christian, and a devoted Southern Baptist. Ruth Nell was married to Joe for almost 68 years. They had four children. Her surviving children are Buddy Adair, Westbrook, Texas; Rod Adair (wife, Dana), Roswell. She is survived by her sister, Geraldine Hughes, Boswell; eight grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her beloved daughter-in-law, Kathy Johns, (husband, Les), Eufaula, Oklahoma. She leaves behind many nieces and nephews, extended family and friends with whom she was close, especially Maxine Dennis, Hagerman, for whose help, comfort, caring and assistance the family is both indebted as well as grateful. The family wishes to thank all the staff of Casa Maria of Roswell, as well as Gentiva Hospice in Roswell for all their care and assistance.
Herbert Donald Smith, 84, Storrie Project, passed away at his home on March 23, 2015, following a brief illness. Don Smith was born in Tucumcari on May 6, 1930. He was raised in Duran until 6th grade when his family moved to Tucumcari. He played football, basketball and baseball for the Tucumcari Rattlers. He graduated from Tucumcari Public Schools in 1948 then attended NM Highlands University on a football scholarship and also played basketball and baseball. He was drafted into the United States Army in 1951 and was honorably discharged in 1953. He married Joan Robertson on December 22, 1951 and in 1955 he continued his education on a football scholarship at Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado for a year after which he returned to NM Highlands University until he graduated in 1956. He taught woodworking, welding, small engines, physical education, and math at various times in his career. He taught in Vaughn, Corona, and for the Las Vegas City Schools. He raised cattle his entire life having been given his first heifer calf as a first year birthday gift from his grandfather. He developed a fine herd of registered Charolais cattle. He and Joan owned and operated the Las Vegas Livestock Cattle auction for seven years. Don was a Farm bureau member and served on the board. He served on the Storrie Project Board for several years and served as president and treasurer. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Joan of the family home; twin daughters: Donna Hinders (husband, Mike), Los Lunas, and Della Boley (husband, Willie), Cushing, Oklahoma, and Kathy Holster (husband, Michael), Levelland, Texas; one son, Robert Smith and wife Tara of Bovey, MN; a sister, Joanne Jones of Clovis; three brothers-in-law: Jerry Bradley, Quay; Jack Robertson (wife, Sandra), Sutter, California, and Don Robertson (wife, Barbara), Lubbock; a faithful employee and friend, Gene Apodaca, Las Vegas, New Mexico; 11 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and a 23 year old Longhorn cow.