El Conquistador

      Three outstanding El Pasoans were named to the EPCHS Hall of Honor. They are George A. McAlmon, attorney, Mary Betty Smith Goetting, civic leader, and Hibbard G. Polk, educator. They will be honored at banquet on November 1 at the El Paso Country Club. Hall of Honor Dinner Chairman Mary Jo Melby has planned an enjoyable evening with cocktails at 6:00 p.m. followed by dinner at 7:00. Look for your invitation in the mail and make plans to attend. Tickets are $50.00 per person.
      Please look inside for short biographies of each of the honorees. The inductees were nominated by the members and the public and selected by a committee of Society members. Mary Haynes chaired the selection committee. As outlined in the bylaws, the names of the selecting committee are not revealed

      October's quarterly meeting will be held on Sunday, October 17 at 2:00 p.m. at the El Paso Museum of History. Judge William E. Moody will discuss the historic meeting in El Paso between President William Taft and President Porfirio Diaz. Pat Worthington, EPCHS curator, will have a PowerPoint presentation of the Taft-Diaz archive of the EPCHS. Many of these items from the Society's collection will be on display at the Museum of History's Taft-Diaz exhibit.
      October 16 marks the 100th anniversary of the meeting in El Paso between the two presidents. For a fascinating account of the politics and intrigue that surrounded the meeting, refer to "The Secret War in El Paso." by Louis Sadler and Ray Harris, which is available for sale at the EPCHS.

Dear Society Member,

      It has been a very exciting and busy summer. We have had many activities and more are planned for the remainder of this year. Our quarterly meetings have been outstanding with excellent participation. Plan to attend the October 18 meeting at the Museum of History. It will be most interesting. Judge Bill Moody will be the speaker and Pat Worthington will give a PowerPoint presentation on the Taft-Diaz visit to El Paso. We will also have the election of officers.

      The Hall of Honor Banquet will honor three individuals who made tremendous contributions to our city. All past honorees, members, and friends of the Society are encouraged to be a part of this celebration.

      Burges House was the setting for the opening reception for Leadership Texas. The house and grounds looked magnificent.

      You should have received your yearbook. Carmen Stearns with assistance from George O'Brien, treasurer, worked extremely hard to complete the task in a timely manner. It will be a helpful tool.

      Your membership is extremely valuable; it helps support the work we do. Encourage a friend to join this exciting organization and make a difference in El Paso.


            Lillian Crouch

George Alexander McAlmon

      The following are excerpts from the nomination of Mr. McAlmon by former County Judge Alicia Chacon: "The details of Mr. McAlmon's record clearly demonstrate his outstanding integrity, his vision of a more decent society, and his courage to speak out against injustice. Although his determination to work behind the scenes and avoid the spotlight has been successful, Mr. McAlmon's legacy is profoundly worthy of recognition by the Hall of Honor.
      When the political history of El Paso is written, the chapter covering the last 50 years of the 20th century should rightfully be named the McAlmon Era. More than any other El Pasoan of his generation, George A. McAlmon, known affectionately as "Mr. Mac" applied his resources, his intellect, and his willpower to build a legacy of social justice whose effects altered the political landscape of the city and made it a more decent, just community.
      After his graduation from El Paso High School, he entered Princeton University at the age of sixteen and went on to attend the Universidad de Mexico and the University of Texas where he earned his law degree. A voracious reader with a blazing intellect, he took every advantage of being born into a prominent El Paso family and unleashed financial and personal resources to serve as a champion against discrimination, abridgement of the rights of wage earners, poverty, anti-Semitism, intolerance, and violations of human rights.
      For almost half a century, the law office of George A. McAlmon was the most important stop for every aspiring public servant. He recognized early in his career that the voices of Mexican Americans and the voices of women were critical to the city's wellbeing - but were absent in El Paso's political dialogue and he therefore lent his support to efforts that increased their representation in elected positions, corporate boards and public agencies.
      During his tenure as Democratic County Chairman, the landscape of the electoral process changed dramatically, reflecting his personal dedication to recruiting Mexican Americans to serve as election judges, precinct chairs, and at every level of elected office from the County Courthouse to the State House. He single handedly nurtured the political career of virtually every Mexican - American candidate - and the handful of women candidates- who ran for office in El Paso throughout the 1960s and into the 70s.
      Mr. McAlmon mentored hundreds of people over the years and never took credit or pulled strings. He advised quietly and often scolded. His office was the meeting place for former and current ambassadors, United States senators, members of congress, governors, mayors, and judges. Yet, it was also the meeting place for undocumented workers, displaced tenants, labor union members, priests and other clergy who shared the agenda of social justice.
      In his career as an attorney, Mr. McAlmon carved out a career of successfully redressing injustice by corporations and other powers whose roads to profits devoured the rights and the health of common people. He was also a strong supporter of the creation of the El Paso Community College as a means of ensuring access to education for all El Pasoans, regardless of economic background.
      Today, the influence of the McAlmon Era is evident throughout the city's governing and operational infrastructure. The City Council has a majority of women representatives and virtually every court, commission or board of directors accurately reflects the demographics of the city's population. While Mr. McAlmon always sought to work in the background, he has been recognized by numerous organizations, including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Mexican American Bar Association, Black Democrats of El Paso, the NAACP, Hispanic Leadership Institute, the El Paso County Bar Association and, most recently, the Texas Civil Rights Project.

Hibbard Glenn Polk

      Hibbard Glenn Polk was born on September 16, 1916 in Santa Ana, Texas to Ernest Eugene and Mayme Baxter Polk. His family moved to Abilene, Texas where he became an award winning speed typist on the manual typewriter, a talented actor in plays at Abilene High School and Hardin Simmons University. He graduated in 1934 as the Abilene High School valedictorian. Mr. Polk earned a Bachelor's Degree in Speech from Hardin Simmons University in 1938 and a Masters Degree in 1951 from Texas Western College in El Paso with a major in School Administration.
      After his graduation from Hardin Simmons University, Hibbard Polk moved from Abilene, Texas to El Paso with his parents. Mr. Polk became an active member of the First Christian Church in El Paso and became acquainted with Sue Elizabeth Jackson at various church functions. They were married on December 14, 1944 in Easter Chapel of Saint Clement Church at a hastily arranged service, just days before Mr. Polk was preparing to return to the battle grounds of World War II.
      He was a member of First Christian Church for 43 years where he taught Sunday School for more than 25 years. He served in numerous capacities at the church including Chairman of the General Board for four one- year terms, Chairman of the First Christian Church Board of Elders, President of the Congregation. and chairman of many functional departments. He also served as an elder and a deacon. Mr. Polk was President of the El Paso Council of Churches and Chairman of the El Paso Chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
      He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the United States Army from March of 1942 through January of 1946. He served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre and saw action on Iwo Jima.
      He was named El Paso's Father of the Year in 1960 and Boss of the Year in 1967 by the El Paso Chapter of the American Business Women's Association. The El Paso Teachers Association 1974-75 named Mr. Polk the Administrator of the Year in 1974-75 and in 1978 the El Paso Teachers Association nominated him for the NEA Human Rights Award.
      On October 15, 1981, Hibbard G. Polk Elementary School was dedicated and named in his honor. Two scholarships have been endowed to honor his memory through the First Christian Church and the El Paso Chapter of the Association of Childhood Education in the El Paso School System. Mr. Polk was a member of numerous professional and civic organizations within the school system and throughout El Paso County. He was a teacher, counselor, principal and school administrator. He retired from the El Paso Independent School District on June 30, 1981 after serving three years as the Deputy Superintendent of the system and with forty one years of total service.
      As a professional educator, Polk gave countless hours of volunteer service in and around El Paso County; his volunteer hours of service each week often equaled his paid professional hours of employment.
      Hibbard G. Polk died on November 24, 1981 and was buried on November 27, 1981 with full military honors in Ft. Bliss National Cemetery. Hibbard and Sue are survived by their son Jackson Hibbard Polk, their daughter-in-law, Wendy White Polk, and their grandson, Andrew Jackson Polk. They are also survived by their son Ernest Barnard Polk and their daughter-in-law, Lynn Lantow Polk.

Betty Mary Smith Goetting

      The following excerpts are taken from the nomination of Mrs. Goetting by Covacha Quauhlatoa: "It must have been a cold day in February 1937 when Mrs. Goetting and a small group of influential women, clergy, and volunteer doctors brought Margaret Sanger, nationally known advocate for family planning, to speak and advise them on starting a birth control clinic in El Paso. Mrs. Goetting's strength and conviction, in overcoming the staid and organized opposition to Mrs. Sanger's appearance, assured that a clinic was established to help the poor women of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. In becoming the Health Center's first president, its honorary president and sitting on its board and the National Planned Parenthood Board for the majority of her years, Mrs. Goetting continued to show her devotion to women's health in El Paso.
      Prior to her efforts for women's welfare in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Mrs.Goetting (at the time Betty Mary Smith) received her certification as a librarian and worked as an assistant librarian at New York's Reference Library. After this, she returned to El Paso, married local general contractor and construction engineer Charles A. Goetting and started work under the aegis and guidance of Maud Sullivan at the El Paso Public Library. During this time, Mrs. Goetting's love of reading and promotion of knowledge saw her start the first Book Club and the first History Club. Her fascination with history of all kinds led her to become a charter member of the El Paso County Historical Society.
      In recognition of her participation in many of the civic, health, and literacy movements in El Paso, Mrs.Goetting received the Margaret Sanger Award (1966), the Planned Parenthood Center of El Paso Leadership Award (1968), the Presidential Award (1970), the Paseña Valerosa Award from the El Paso Historical Society (1974), recognition by the El Paso Women's Political Caucus as a Pioneer in Women's Rights (1977), and awarded an honorary life membership from the El Paso Library Association in 1979. Her letters to Margaret Sanger are deposited in the archives of New York University and Asteria (New York) University.
      Betty Mary Smith Goetting was born in Jefferson, Texas in 1897 and died in El Paso in 1983. The Smith family moved to El Paso from Jefferson in 1910. While living at 1009 Florence Street, Betty Mary attended Lamar Grade School, then graduated from El Paso High School in 1915. With the encouragement of Maud Sullivan, Betty Mary attended Riverside Library Service School in 1917. While at the Riverside School, she volunteered at the Red Cross during World War I. After graduation, she was hired as an assistant in the New York Reference Library in 1918. While in New York, she was exposed to and active in the women's suffrage movement. Upon returning to El Paso, Miss Smith married Charles A. Goetting, a successful contractor, with whom she had two sons, Charles A. Goetting, Jr. and Kurt E. Goetting.

      EPCHS seeks volunteers to help at the Society. No prior experience is needed but volunteers should be computer literate.
      Volunteer judges are also needed for annual El Paso History Day contest that will be held on Saturday, February 21 on the UTEP campus. The theme for 2010 is "Innovation in History: Impact and Change". Over 200 students participate in the event each year. El Paso History Day is a yearly event sponsored by the Department of History at UTEP and the El Paso County Historical Society. It serves as the local qualifying event for Texas History Day and National History Day. National History Day is an educational program devoted to improving the teaching and learning of history in American schools.
      Call Pat Worthington at 533-3603 if you are interested in serving as a volunteer or a judge.

      The computers at EPCHS are old and we could use some new ones. If you are upgrading your computer and looking for some place to unload your old hardware, consider the Society. We are a 501(c)(3) organization and donations are tax deductible.

      By now, each member should have received a copy of the new membership directory. Distribution of the directory is limited to members of the El Paso County Historical Society.
      Please make the following corrections: the listing for Dr. Byron Chesbro should read: Dr. Byron Chesbro and Melissa Chesbro. The phone number for Tom Hussman is 584-4081

      Many thanks to Mary Jo Melby for her donation of one of El Paso's rarest books. There are only 6 copies known of the El Paso Cook Book that was published by the Ladies' Auxiliary of the YMCA in 1898. This was the first cookbook in the United States produced by an auxiliary. It was published right after the flood of 1897. The gift was made in memory of Florence Cathcart Melby.

      Starting January 2010, all membership dues will become due in January rather than on the anniversary of joining the EPCHS.
      Members who fail to renew by March 1 will be removed from the membership list and will no longer receive Password, El Conquistador and notices about Society events. Call Carmen Stearns at 533-3178 or the society at 533-3603 if you have any questions.