Submitted Stories

New Women’s Marker – Ida O. Jackson (1890-1960)

Ida O. Jackson was born in Texas and came to a segregated New Mexico to teach African-American youth in the town of Clovis, New Mexico in 1926. She began by teaching the youth at the Bethlehem Baptist Church. By 1935 she was teaching 35 students in a one-room schoolhouse. The school became known as the Lincoln-Jackson School to honor her and the nation’s sixteenth president. Today Lincoln -Jackson is the name of a special education program that is part of the Clovis Municipal School District designed to help educate preschool children who have developmental disabilities before they reach school age. Her selfless contributions are inspiring! Throughout her career Ida continued to teach Sunday school. When the need arose, she graciously opened her home to those needing housing. Then in 1944 Ida used her home as a meeting place for the newly formed Federated Progressive Club for black women working to improve the community. She is given credit for being part of the initial group responsible for the writing of the the constitution and the by-laws for the organization. Ida made a tremendous difference to the people of Clovis and the surrounding areas. We are inspired by her passion for education and her willingness to devote herself and her resources to improving the lives of the people in her...

Submitted Stories

New Women’s Marker – Myrtle Attaway Farquhar 1900 – 1972

When you visit Hobbs, in the Southeastern part of New Mexico, don’t miss the New Mexico Historical Women’s Marker honoring the life of Myrtle Attaway Farquhar.  Her marker is located near the entrance to the New Mexico Junior College. The college is located at 5317 N Lovington Highway in Hobbs. Myrtle has been celebrated because of the care and passion she brought to educating African-American students. For many years she inspired sixth graders teaching math, social science and home making at the segregated Booker T. Washington School in Hobbs. She and her husband contributed to the lives of ten students by helping to finance their education. Myrtle was inducted into the Southeastern New Mexico Education Association Hall of fame in 1969. She passed way in 1972. Myrtle is yet another example of women contributing their gifts, talents, love and money to the betterment of their community. What a gift she was to the people of the state of New Mexico and our...

Submitted Stories

The Legacy of Miss Rice

I could not possibly list all the women who have made a positive impact on my life, but I’d like to tell about the first one. Emily Rice, my senior high school English teacher. Miss Rice was a tall, slender, soft-spoken woman with graying hair neatly braided and wrapped around her head. She taught at Peoria High for twenty-seven years. But in the 1930s when she’d first applied for a teaching job, it was not easy to get hired. Even a degree from Smith College and her experience with teaching immigrants were not enough credentials to overcome the difficulties of the Great Depression. But once she became part of the faculty, parents and students began praising her work. It was easy to understand why. Sitting in her class of ’56, she’d brought Shakespeare’s Macbeth to life for me, explaining the structure and meaning. It lit a fire! We memorized the first few stanzas of Canterbury Tales in “Olde English” but she warned us that it would be with us forever. She was right. When the parents of many of her students would go back for Open House, they wouldn’t greet her with, “Hello Miss Rice.” They’d just smile and say: Whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote, The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; In perfect Olde English! Emily Rice passed on before I had a chance to go back and recite those words. And before I had a chance to tell her how much she and her class had meant to me. But obviously I wasn’t the only one touched by her. Every year at commencement ceremonies, the Emily Rice Award is presented to the most outstanding graduating senior. Her legacy lives on. So, Miss Rice, wherever you are, from my heart . . . Thank...