Harbour, William and LeNoir

Lea County Families and History, Then and Now, Vol II

Harbour, William and LeNoir

By: LeNoir Harbour

            William Jefferson Harbour and I, LeNoir Bowles, were married on December 21, 1946 at 4:00 p.m. at the farm home of my parents, Mr. & Mrs. Hugh Bowles. I was born at Konawa, Oklahoma on December 2, 1920 and Bill was born in Tupelo, Oklahoma on October 13, 1920.

            Bill was working for Frisco Railroad; I was teaching school at Konawa as was Margaret Harston, Bill’s aunt who was responsible for our meeting. Margaret heard Mr. C.H. Conway from Eunice, New Mexico advertising for teachers for his school on a Durant Radio Station;  the salaries were fantastic! I had started teaching at Konawa in 1942 with a Master’s Degree for $95.00 a month for 9 months. Margaret called Mr. Conway and arranged a meeting at our residence in Ada, Oklahoma. From this meeting emerged two Eunice teachers, Betty Jane Harston, another of Bill’s aunts, and me; An Artesia teacher, Margaret Harston; and  unemployed railroad worker, Bill, who had been assured that work was plentiful and well paid

            Bill had been discharged from the Armed Services in May 1946, and had managed to get a ten year old Ford (cars were hard to get at that time). We found a man who could move us to Eunice for $90.00, so Bill cashed his terminal leave pay to finance the move. We really hadn’t counted on our prized car catching fire and having to be towed to a garage, plus a repair bill; but we did survive and arrived in Eunice on August 25, 1947 to find the moving men still looking for the house we were to move into, which was still under construction.

            The most impressive thing in Eunice for me at that time was the schools. I thought they were magnificent, and I was so proud to teach in them!

            I taught seven years in the Eunice Schools before we started our family. Bill was working for El Paso Natural Gas at Oil Center where we had lived since 1949. Our first son, William Jefferson Harbour Jr. was born on my birthday, December 2, 1954, and Hugh Brown Harbour (named for both grandfathers) was born January 24, 1956. Both boys were born in Lea General Hospital and tended by the same doctor, Dr. V.M. Holland, and I had room #126 for both boys.

            In March, 1957 a teacher moved from Monument Elementary School, and I finished teaching the year, leaving the little boys with a very reliable lady who came to the house to keep them. This arrangement worked so well and the teaching salary came in so handy that teaching at Monument continued until Jeff was ready for my second grade. There was only one teacher for each grade, but such lovely people! After much discussion, his father and I thought it best not to spoil the mother-son relationship; so I returned to Eunice to teach in 1961.

            In 1962 we built our “own” home in Eunice and moved in on October 25. We had several happy years here, but Bill contracted encephalitis in April of 1969, and after a ten month illness died in Andrews, Texas on February 14, 1970.

            I am so fortunate to now have two lovely daughters-in-law. Jeff and Lynette Coffee of Big Springs, Texas were married January 8, 1978, and are now living in Pampa, Texas where Jeff is employed by Getty Oil Company. Hugh and Cynthia Enais Tucker of Odessa, Texas were married at our home in Eunice on October 8, 1982 and are now living in Odessa where Hugh is employed by Mobile Analytical Company and Cindy is employed by Curry Motor Freight Lines. I retired from teaching after 35 years and a heart attack with by-pass surgery.

            Bill’s Aunt Margaret, who is responsible for this union, has now retired from the Artesia Schools and is still very dear to us.