Memorial Day 2018, CHS '51.....REMEMBERING DAVE COLLINS

       Clovis High School


                            CHS Class of '51

          "REMEMBERING DAVE COLLINS"
          Written by Sue Taylor Bridges

I cannot remember meeting Dave Collins because I knew him all of his life. He, his parents, Roy and Clarine, his older brother, Clark, and younger brother, Pat, lived west of us; the county road going north and south divided our property. The Running Water Draw, ran through their property and ours. They lived on the north and we were south, so when " the draw came up" we would yell across the water to each other.

Dave and I started to schools together in September 1939 at Claud which was northwest of our property. Clarine, who was more like a relative than a neighbor, took Dave and me to 4H club. When we were to start the 7th grade, Claud Schools was closed and we were scheduled to ride the bus from Claud to Pleasant Hill.  Mother and the Collins decided to take turns driving us to Clovis to school, so Dave and I joined Clovis Junior High for the 7th grade in the fall of 1946.

I remember Dave as a very kind, friendly, helpful person. He and Shade Gore were both very good at math and I was determined that they wouldn't beat me, so we all turned out to be good students.

As I remember, after we graduated from Clovis High School in 1951, Dave realized there was no money for him to go to college, so he volunteered for the Army, served his two years and then went to Eastern New Mexico University. He received his degree in math, then spent his career with an aircraft company.

Some time early on after high school he married a Chambers girl.  I think her name is Iwana, but am not sure. Sadly, I don't know what children they had. I do know upon retiring, they moved back to Portales and were very active with Habitant for Humanity. 

          Sue Taylor Bridges

          "REMEMBERING DAVE COLLINS"
           by Shade Goar
       

Dave and I attended the first through sixth grade at Claud Grade School.  Claud Grade School was located thirteen miles north of Clovis and one mile east of the Grady highway.  For the 1945-46 school year, several parents, including mine, Dave's and Sue's felt the the best thing for the kids was to personally transport them to Clovis schools, rather than by bus eleven miles over dirt roads to Pleasant Hill High School.

The Collins family consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Collins, Older brother Clark, Dave, and younger brother Pat.  They lived on a ranch approximately ten miles north of Clovis and about five miles west of the Grady Highway.  The Taylors lived across the section line from the Collins.  Dave and I were best friends from first grade, spending the night with each other when we could escape the home chores.

Upon graduation from Clovis High, Dave attended Eastern in Portales for two years.  He was drafted into the Army for two years.  Upon completion of his army duty, he returned to Eastern, and graduated with a BS in mathamatics.  He went to work for General Dynamics in Fort Worth for a while (I don't know how long) where he was in their nuclear program.  At some time he moved to Los Alamos, and retired from there.  He then moved to Portales, where he built a home.  The last time I talked to him, (in 2003), he was helping build a house for Homes for Humanity.