Jal Historical Society and Museum
Latest Information will be added to the top of this page:
Feb. 27th, 2005
PO Box 1206
Jal, New Mexico 88252
Jal, New Mexico 88252
Latest Information will be added to the top of this page:
July 7th, 2005
June 25th, 2005 UPDATE:
From: KarenLee Stevens and Jal Museum<jalmuseum@msn.com> June25 2005--
Hi there! Well, I realize it has been way too long since we let any of you know what's going on with the museum. You know the old saying "either nothing is happening or we're too busy to write about it!".
We now have 138 MEMBERS!!!! That is the most exciting news! I am going to
send a list of the membership in a separate email. Check and see if your name is listed. If NOT then SEND A CHECK!! Seriously, if your name is not on there and
you've joined, let me know so I can check our records. We only need 12 more to hit
the 150 mark so be sure and send your memberships in when you send your reservations in for the reunion! It will be so much easier to do it now than to have to
wait and stand in line at the reunion!!
Recently, Brian and I went to the Lea County Museum in Lovington to see the author,
Max Evans and photographer Jan Haley. For those of you who don't know, Max has written many novels, mostly of the Western genre that have been made into movies
...one of which is "The Rounders" staring Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda. ANYWAY,
turns out he was raised (up until the age of 12) in Humble City, NM (you know...between Hobbs and Lovington). His father founded the little town and his mother was the postmistress. He also wrote a novel several years ago called My Pardner about a real life experience of his...and while the novel was based in "Starvation, Texas" it actually took place in JAL, NEW MEXICO!!! How bout that!!! He and Jan have written a book
together called Max Evan's Hi Lo Country (he wrote the novel Hi-Lo Country) and she said a project she would like to do next is a photo-travel book about small towns in SE New Mexico and the meaning of their names...and one she is really interested in is JAL! We told her to "come on down" and we'd give her all the info she wants!! We need to
get back in touch with her soon.
We also met a gentleman from Pep, NM who is an archeologist...and has done a
lot of work around Jal and was thrilled to hear about the beginnings of a museum here! He said he has a LOT of archeological info about the area that he would be glad to
share with us!!
The first of June we had "Swapping Tales & Sharing Jal History" night and had a
GREAT time!! We had 18 people come down to the library and tell some wonderful stories! It lasted for 2 and 1/2 hours and we only scratched the surface of some great stories! We did ask that they be as factual as possible... and not slanderous to anyone. There were a couple of us who took notes and now have a record of some amazing and extremely interesting stories! We don't have any plans to publish these stories, we just want them for our archives and/or to use at some future time in setting up displays and such. I truly didn't know some of the local families had such deep roots here!
We will be scheduling another one at our next board meeting so watch for the info to be published. For the last one we put out flyers all over town, put in in the newspaper in 2 different places and of course I put it on Melissa's site... and we still have folks who said they didn't know about it. We will do all we can to let people know and we are hoping for a great group again! We also plan on doing "themes"... as in El Paso Natural Gas Night, Ranching Heritage Night, Jal Public Schools Night, etc., etc. If you can think of a theme you are interested in, or would fit into... or just something you would like to know more about, let us know! Be sure and watch the paper and Melissa's emails for details on the next one!
We have been in contact with a general contractor concerning the"repairs" needed to
our building. We've only talked with them at this time, but hope to meet them at the museum one day soon and see just what it will take to get "emergency" stuff done ...bathroom, electricity, WATER... you know, the necessities before you can really even go to work.At this time we are planning on waiting until cooler weather to schedule
"work days" down there. It is just too blasted HOT right now to even think about it.
When that time comes we'll also put out "invitations"! There again, we need to check with the contractor to see what "we" can do, as opposed to what "he" has to do.
]
I want to sincerely thank all of you who have shown such an interest in the
Jal Historical Society!! We get discouraged some time, then we have someone
like Karen Hicks Ivy who walks through saying "THIS IS JUST SO GREAT!!!!"
Sure makes us feel better...and makes the old place look better too! We VERY much appreciate all of you who have joined the Historical Society and put faith in us to get this thing going! Please don't give up thinking "it ain't gonna happen" because it will and it is, just right now the work can't been "seen". The Board is a great bunch of folks who want to see this project done.
Speaking of the board, we have had some changes recently. Pj Parker resigned and while we hated to see Pj leave, we were very excited that we found someone GREAT to take her place. David Post has graciously consented to sit in her "spot"!! David, too, brings a lot of history to our board, and lots of enthusiasm too! (Plus a young strong back!!!) We are really excited to have David on the board and know he will have some great ideas.We have also received a few FANTASTIC pictures of "old" Jal...BUT WE NEED MORE!!! Thanks so much to all who have sent them to us, and we know many
of you have some great ones to share so please take them down and have them
copied, or you are welcome to give them to us if you don't want them but either way wewould love to have more! We really need them before the reunion. It will be such fun to look at them and wonder WHO, WHAT, WHEN AND WHERE!
These are just a few of the things going on and we'll try to keep you updated on things as they happen. We appreciate everyone's continued support and look forward to hearing from you with memberships (we DO take donations!!!) and/or stories and pictures!!
The Jal Historical Society Board of Directors
Subject: Reunion Photo Exhibit
Hello to All!
We have received 4 more memberships in the last couple
of days, with the promise of some family memorabilia from one of
them! Ira and Judy (Goedeke) Cullins are now members and Judy
said she has some "Goedeke" items she will give us! We also got
memberships from Connie (Marshall) Ketron and Comilla (Van Bramer)
Thompson!
We also got an exciting contribution the other night!!
Mrs. Dorothy (Hefner) Eaker who graduated from JHS in 1940 and is the
mother of Arthella class of 70 and Lavena class of 76. gave us a
"Friendship Quilt" that was quilted for her by The Church of God ladies
to take to college with her! The pattern is a sunflower. In
the middle of the sunflower (which cost a quarter) is the name of a
preacher, according to Mrs. Eaker. There are 20 names around
each. The names were embroidered and the "petals" cost 10 cents a
piece. Just some of the names Brian and I found are Elmer Turner,
CD Woolworth, MC Whitworth, Dama Whitworth, Blanche Calley, James
Bryant, several of the Combests, Roy Lee Pagan and his brother Charles,
J L Burke, Mrs. Fink, Homer Pender, Mrs. Bish, Helen Childers,
Clyde and Thelma Cooper...just too many names to remember. It is
such a treasure!!! There are, I think Brian said, 420 names
on that quilt!!! Some are on there more than once, others are
only there once and some are not readable anymore but it is just
fabulous! Oh, I didn't tell you that the ladies of that church
sold the spots on the quilt to help Dorothy go to college in
Sevierville, Tennessee! They sold the spots, quilted the
quilt then gave it to her to take to college. Isn't that
beautiful?? What a special gift to give the museum!!!
We are also thrilled to receive an email from Mary Grace
Wright saying that her dad, Bob Wright is donating his JAL
GASSER JACKET to the museum!!! PLUS both he and Mrs. Eaker
are donating some great pictures!!!
This is just so exciting!!! We sincerely appreciate
these two people thinking of the museum and we look forward to being
able to properly display these items!
Loyce Reid is also bringing us some copies of Larry Kings
books to add to the museum library!!! Brian and I are going to
meet them in Hobbs and are really looking forward to that!!
There is just a lot of exciting things going on right
now...now if we just had the paperwork done...and a PLACE to store all
of this memorabilia!!! UGH!!!
A big THANK YOU to all of the folks who have donated items,
time, membership, monetary donations...anything you have done to help
us get started!!! And most especially your enthusiasm and
encouragement! This is not an "over night" deal. To do it
right is going to take time, but it will be worth all the time and
effort...and patience!!!
Karen
June 25th, 2005 UPDATE:
From: KarenLee Stevens and Jal Museum<jalmuseum@msn.com> June25 2005--
Hi there! Well, I realize it has been way too long since we let any of you know what's going on with the museum. You know the old saying "either nothing is happening or we're too busy to write about it!".
We now have 138 MEMBERS!!!! That is the most exciting news! I am going to
send a list of the membership in a separate email. Check and see if your name is listed. If NOT then SEND A CHECK!! Seriously, if your name is not on there and
you've joined, let me know so I can check our records. We only need 12 more to hit
the 150 mark so be sure and send your memberships in when you send your reservations in for the reunion! It will be so much easier to do it now than to have to
wait and stand in line at the reunion!!
Recently, Brian and I went to the Lea County Museum in Lovington to see the author,
Max Evans and photographer Jan Haley. For those of you who don't know, Max has written many novels, mostly of the Western genre that have been made into movies
...one of which is "The Rounders" staring Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda. ANYWAY,
turns out he was raised (up until the age of 12) in Humble City, NM (you know...between Hobbs and Lovington). His father founded the little town and his mother was the postmistress. He also wrote a novel several years ago called My Pardner about a real life experience of his...and while the novel was based in "Starvation, Texas" it actually took place in JAL, NEW MEXICO!!! How bout that!!! He and Jan have written a book
together called Max Evan's Hi Lo Country (he wrote the novel Hi-Lo Country) and she said a project she would like to do next is a photo-travel book about small towns in SE New Mexico and the meaning of their names...and one she is really interested in is JAL! We told her to "come on down" and we'd give her all the info she wants!! We need to
get back in touch with her soon.
We also met a gentleman from Pep, NM who is an archeologist...and has done a
lot of work around Jal and was thrilled to hear about the beginnings of a museum here! He said he has a LOT of archeological info about the area that he would be glad to
share with us!!
The first of June we had "Swapping Tales & Sharing Jal History" night and had a
GREAT time!! We had 18 people come down to the library and tell some wonderful stories! It lasted for 2 and 1/2 hours and we only scratched the surface of some great stories! We did ask that they be as factual as possible... and not slanderous to anyone. There were a couple of us who took notes and now have a record of some amazing and extremely interesting stories! We don't have any plans to publish these stories, we just want them for our archives and/or to use at some future time in setting up displays and such. I truly didn't know some of the local families had such deep roots here!
We will be scheduling another one at our next board meeting so watch for the info to be published. For the last one we put out flyers all over town, put in in the newspaper in 2 different places and of course I put it on Melissa's site... and we still have folks who said they didn't know about it. We will do all we can to let people know and we are hoping for a great group again! We also plan on doing "themes"... as in El Paso Natural Gas Night, Ranching Heritage Night, Jal Public Schools Night, etc., etc. If you can think of a theme you are interested in, or would fit into... or just something you would like to know more about, let us know! Be sure and watch the paper and Melissa's emails for details on the next one!
We have been in contact with a general contractor concerning the"repairs" needed to
our building. We've only talked with them at this time, but hope to meet them at the museum one day soon and see just what it will take to get "emergency" stuff done ...bathroom, electricity, WATER... you know, the necessities before you can really even go to work.At this time we are planning on waiting until cooler weather to schedule
"work days" down there. It is just too blasted HOT right now to even think about it.
When that time comes we'll also put out "invitations"! There again, we need to check with the contractor to see what "we" can do, as opposed to what "he" has to do.
]
I want to sincerely thank all of you who have shown such an interest in the
Jal Historical Society!! We get discouraged some time, then we have someone
like Karen Hicks Ivy who walks through saying "THIS IS JUST SO GREAT!!!!"
Sure makes us feel better...and makes the old place look better too! We VERY much appreciate all of you who have joined the Historical Society and put faith in us to get this thing going! Please don't give up thinking "it ain't gonna happen" because it will and it is, just right now the work can't been "seen". The Board is a great bunch of folks who want to see this project done.
Speaking of the board, we have had some changes recently. Pj Parker resigned and while we hated to see Pj leave, we were very excited that we found someone GREAT to take her place. David Post has graciously consented to sit in her "spot"!! David, too, brings a lot of history to our board, and lots of enthusiasm too! (Plus a young strong back!!!) We are really excited to have David on the board and know he will have some great ideas.We have also received a few FANTASTIC pictures of "old" Jal...BUT WE NEED MORE!!! Thanks so much to all who have sent them to us, and we know many
of you have some great ones to share so please take them down and have them
copied, or you are welcome to give them to us if you don't want them but either way wewould love to have more! We really need them before the reunion. It will be such fun to look at them and wonder WHO, WHAT, WHEN AND WHERE!
These are just a few of the things going on and we'll try to keep you updated on things as they happen. We appreciate everyone's continued support and look forward to hearing from you with memberships (we DO take donations!!!) and/or stories and pictures!!
The Jal Historical Society Board of Directors
Subject: Reunion Photo Exhibit
After trying to decide what
might be an appropriate project for the reunion in
September, the Board of Directors for the Jal Museum has decided
that a photo exhibit would be a great way to get things
started.
To do this, and do it as it should be
done, we will need everyone's help. First, we need pictures of
Jal throughout the years! Jal in the earliest days, then on into
the forties, fifties and sixties...every time period right up to
today. We can use photos of the town, people, places,
things--there are very few photos archived anywhere that show the
history of Jal.
I know that a lot of people have old
photos laying around...hidden in a photo album or an old box. Now
is the time to go through those hidden treasures and find anything and
everything that might be of interest! If you can have regular
photographic reprints made of original photos, that would be
most helpful. It would also be helpful if you can identify
as many of the subjects in the photos as possible. Then send
them to us at The Jal Historical Society and Museum, Inc., PO Box
1206, Jal, NM 88252. If you can't have reprints made, then scans
of the photos will suffice. These can be mailed to us at the
same address, or e-mailed (in JPEG format) to jalmuseum@msn.com.
The museum will always need these
photos to document Jal's history, and they will serve as one of the
first visible signs that the museum is a reality. They will
become a permanent part of the museum's collection, and provide some
wonderful memories at the reunion!
Now for the second thing that we
need to mount this exhibit...cash! We would like to be able to
assemble this display without dipping into the meager amount
of funds we currently have on hand--those will need to be used for
filing fees for non-profit status and other necessary
expenses. I think a reasonable estimate for a quality
exhibit of, say, thirty to forty photographs, would be in the
neighborhood of $2,500. Of course, we could always use more than
that, and anything that is not used for this exhibit will help the
museum in some other way. We need someone--or a number of
people--to sponsor this exhibit. If this is a project that you
would like to see happen, please make a donation. We
will have donors listed in a prominent way on the exhibit, so
that people will know you were willing to help. And, when
our non-profit status is approved, it should be retroactive,
and your contributions may be deductible.
I know this is a lot to ask, but
we need your help to get the Jal Museum started. And what better
way to start preserving our history than to save some of these old
photos that are now hidden from view! If you
have any questions, or would like to offer your help, you can
contact me at the museum's e-mail address, my personal e-mail, bgnorwood@leaco.net,
or by calling me at (505) 395-3042. I look forward
to hearing from you, and thank everyone for their help and support!
Brian Norwood '75
Feb. 27th, 2005
Hi there!
I was checking the
"Jal Page" and realized you hadn't heard from us in a while! The
museum is rolling right along...slowly, but we are rolling! We
now have 77 members and are REALLY hoping for the big 100
soon!
We have our state
corporation certificate now and are working on the 50 pages of
paperwork to become 501 ( c) 3 (federal non-profit) so we can give
everyone their tax credits! We'll get there!!
The most exciting new
happening recently is that the Jal Senior Citizen's Center had a
3-weekend Rummage Sale and they made $1,425.00 and donated it to the
Jal Museum and Historical Society, Inc.!!! WOW! Sure
do want to thank Mrs. Edna Branin and ALL of
her cohorts who worked so very hard to get that
together. We also want to thank Bill and Linda Lewallen
who donated the use of the building there on Main Street!! And of
course, we must thank All who donated treasures!!! It
seems every weekend was a cold, cloudy one but they did a booming
business! At one point, it was said (and I didn't check this with
Edna) that folks were carrying bought stuff out one door and other
folks were carrying donated stuff in the other!! They had some
REALLY good stuff to sell and I know they all worked themselves
into exhaustion on it!!! THANK YOU , THANK YOU,
THANK YOU!!!
We also had a new
business machine company in Hobbs donate a COPIER/FAX MACHINE to our
museum!! We don’t have an office yet...but Mr. Jimmi
Castro of CMI-Digital Solutions said that was ok...he'd hold
our machine for us until we're ready for it!!! Isn't that
incredible!?! Now all we need is an office to put it in!!!
We really appreciate Mr. Castro and CMI-Digital Solutions!!!
This is a very
exciting endeavor and WE NEED YOUR HELP!!! Please join the
Museum...whether you can help with donations, labor, paperwork, or you
just want to help by your membership...all of that is needed
desperately!!! Membership is ONLY $10.00 PER PERSON so it
is very affordable! Please note, that is $10.00 PER PERSON...not
PER COUPLE. We held our membership dues down so it would be easy
for each and every one to join. IF you are a couple...it will be
$20.00. AND students GRADES 1-12 can join for free!! I will
attach a membership form to this email and let Jerry do what he can
with it!
We also need a CPA
and/or Lawyer to volunteer to read over our non-profit application when
Brian gets through with it to make sure we have crossed all the t's and
dotted all the I's . If you would be willing to help with that
PLEASE get in touch with us!!!
If you can help in ANY
other way, let us know. There is so much to do (we are going to
have to do a LOT of construction on the building, too) and we are going
to need lots of help to get this project done and get it done right!!
We have a museum email
address where you can reach us now, too! The museum email address
is jalmuseum@msn.com
. If you have any questions, ideas, or can help in any way,
please email us!!!
Once again, I want to
thank the Board Members who are so enthusiastic about getting this
thing off the ground: Brian Norwood, President, Pj Parker,
Vice President, Jewel Kay Wallace, Secretary, Coralie Brown, Helen
Shelton, Morris Wallace and then there's me...Karen
Lee Stevens, Treasurer.
Thanks, Jerry...we'll
try to keep in touch better from now on!!
Karen Lee Stevens
July 2nd, 2004
Hey There!
Hey There!
We had our first Jal Historical
Society and Museum meeting last night~ so far we've got 5 Board
members, but we're hoping to have at least one more...haven't talked to
the person yet. Anyway, we had 20 people there...all very
interesting in being Founding Fathers and Mothers. Our friend,
Jim Harris and his wife, Mary, from Hobbs was also there. He
is the Director of the Lea Co. Museum in Lovington and had some good
advice and information for us. We went to the "museum" after the
meeting and gave a few people a "tour". It really is so
exciting!
Today I am getting a post
office box for it...don't know the number yet, haven't finished the
paper work, but will let you know what it is soon, so all of those
monetary donations can start POURING in! The physical address is
100 North 3rd. St. .
We are in the process of
filling out the corporation papers now and will soon start on the
non-profit end of it. Do we have anyone out there who would help
us with that???
Our next meeting will be
next Friday evening (7/9/04) at 6:30 in the Library auditorium.
At that time, we hope to have gotten a lot done on the paper work!
Will keep you informed on
the progress!!!
Oh, the Board members
are: Brian Norwood, Karen Stevens, Mathel and Rosene Green and
Jewel Kay Wallace. As I said, we may have 1 or 2 more before we
are completely finished, but those who didn't volunteer for a board
position DID volunteer to help WORK!
Thanks for your
interest.....
Karen
Jal
Museum
Well, folks, it’s looking
like Jal may finally be getting a museum!!! There
is still a long way to go toward making this happen, but we have been
offered a substantial collection of museum quality pieces and Mr.
Gary Blocker has offered us the old Jarecki Oil Field Supply/Clary
Feed Store building on North Third Street (for all you “young ones” out
there, that is the old blue building across from Chaparral Trucking
Co.)!! We are now in the process of
setting up a Corporation so we can become a non-profit organization…and
all the legal stuff, but we are all of a sudden much further than we
ever thought possible!!
Our vision is to form a
Historical Society (and when we get the corporation set up we will
determine what the membership fees will be) that will operate a museum
dedicated to the history of Jal and the surrounding area…ALL of the
history…oil and gas, ranching, Native American, educational, churches,
military, anything from the past that made Jal what it is…and what we
remember it being!
Our vision is ALSO to come
out of this with a first-rate museum…we have NO plans of having just a
musty, dusty building with old photos, and everybody’s “cast-offs”. We want to draw in some of the estimated 1.2
million tourists who will be coming to Lea County to visit the new
racetrack and casino now being built in Hobbs. We
want a family-oriented place folks can come, bring their kids and go
away, knowing how Jal came to be…and why!
And what to we need to
push this process along??? We will need a
CPA and/or a lawyer who can help complete the steps necessary to become
a non-profit 501-c(3) organization…free gratis (we are volunteers after
all)…and of course $$$$$$$!! And ANYONE
who has experience in starting and operating a museum. There will be a
LOT of work needed to make the building habitable, electrical,
plumbing, carpentry…CLEANING…you get the picture! We realize that there
are a lot of people who live too far away to help with the icky
part…but there are a lot of you within a few miles who might be willing
to give up a weekend or two….or several…to help out.
If so, PLEASE let us know! We
aren’t talking NEXT weekend…probably not until sometime in the early
fall, but we would like to know of anyone who would be willing at some
future date to give a few weekends to helping with this project. At some future date, we may even need the
expertise of an Architect to help us design the inside.
What we DON’T need at this
point is everybody’s collections of EVERYTHING. At
some future time we will want some stuff…but right now we have no place
to store it. If you have items that might
be suitable, PLEASE hang on to them, give us your names and a list of
what you have and we will let you know when we are ready for them.
We can’t do this without a
bunch of help. And we know that all you
“Jalites-once removed” are still fond of this little place and would
love to see it blossom in some way.
We hope to see some
visible progress at the 2005 reunion…to do this we will need lots of
help! If you are interested in this new
project…contact us!!
Brian Norwood (class of ’75)
505-395-3042
Karen Lee Stevens (class of
’70)
505-395-2908
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