ROBERT, and CALVIN, his dad, 1942
Clovis, N.M. Train Depot
Barely a week ago on March 25, one of our
favorite classmates of the CLovis High School
Class of 1951, Robert Stebbins, had a birthday.
Born in 1933...it was his 82nd.
Except for about three years, when he lived with
his aunt in Ohio while his dad went off to the
Pacific war, Robert grew up with all the rest of
the CHS 51 kids...going to the Lyceum on
Saturday afternoons, getting ham salad sandwiches
at Woolworths, and eating those great hot dogs
at the Coney Island Cafe.
When the Stebbins family bought the Magic Steam
Laundry, 417 West Grand, from my dad on August
15, 1945, Robert went to work there---doing
laundry jobs---sweeping, cleaning, and eventually
delivering laundry. (I, in turn, left laundry work and
became a tractor driver.)
I remember being in Boys Debating Club with Robert,
but didn't see him that much---he was a team manager
for Wildcat teams, and it kept him very busy!
It is interesting to study that historic class of '51 photo,
made on the front steps of the beloved old high school
building. It was likely taken early spring '51 so as to be in
the yearbook. If you look closely, you will see Robert,
toward the back right, wearing his "C" sweater!
He has an interesting bio after CHS graduation, when
most of us lost contact with each other...and tackled
life "head on," as they say...
----USMC 1952-1955, California, Japan, and Albuquerque
----1955-1959 University of New Mexico
----1959- 1960 Lytle Corporation, Quality Control Inspector
----1960- 1988 U.S. Department of State, 25 years overseas
in the Foreign Service
--- 1989 - 1993 U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
(part-time) California
---1993-2003 - U.S. Department of State (part-time contractor)
Colombia, Ecuador, Taiwan
----1933- 2003 "WHERE DID THESE SEVENTY YEARS GO?"
"Now, we're happily retired and living two miles from the ocean about
25 miles north of San Diego. In a nutshell, that's it."
*************
I have been grateful to Robert for his enthusiastic and continuing
interest in and support of MIL'S PLACE! The fourth anniversary
of MIL'S was yesterday, March 31, 2011.
Robert has contributed a number of well-written pieces to MIL'S
and loves Clovis history more than anyone I know, (along with
Bobby Joe Snipes.) Robert has ever been an encouragement
with ideas for pieces about our old home town, and thus came
stories about "MR. ELMS," "DORA RUSSELL," "CONEY ISLAND
HOT DOGS," and others which Robert suggested.
His story ("MY DAD,") about saying goodbye to his dad at the
Clovis train depot, has always been one of my favorites!
Again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOB, and many more, from all your
friends, and CHS '51 classmates!
**************
BY MIL
April 1, 2015
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