Stephens, Francis Marion "Pete"

Lea County Families and Histories, "Then and Now" Vol II, 1984

Submitted by: Bill Stephens

    William Varner Stephens was married to Nancy Jane Pardue on July 14, 1881, in Hico, Texas. He was the son of Cyrus Walker Stephens and Caroline Ball from Missouri. She was the daughter of George Pardue and Mary Flo Gray from North Carolina. They had eight children- Donnie Bell, John Andrew, Lily Lucretia, Edwin Milton, Grover Cleveland, William Clarence, Francis Marion and Clara Pearl.

    They came to New Mexico in 1914 and homesteaded northeast of Eunice, where Jones City is now, with their three youngest children, Clarence, Pete and Clara. They moved a house in from Shafter Lake, Texas on skids pulled by horses. After five years the family moved to Cisco, Texas except for Pete who remained in Eunice.  

Francis M. (Redhorse) Ranch 1983

     At age three, Pete lost his feet in a farm accident but he could do most anything the other boys could. Pete gathered parts and built himself a bicycle and learned to ride it. Later he learned to rope and ride and broke horses for hire.. Each fall he would go to Midland, and ride the train to Dallas to be fitted for new feet.

     On September 16, 1926, Pete married Mary Ann Owen, who came to Eunice in 1921. Pete and Mary Ann had four children- Eva May, Francis Marion Jr., Wayne Collier and William Owen. In January, 1936, Mary Ann died of pneumonia leaving Pete with four small children to raise. Grandma and Grandpa Owen asked Pete and the kids to come live with them so they could help raise them. Later, in May 1946, Pete married Ethel Pippin.

     Besides ranching Pete had a great interest in politics and public service. He was mayor of Eunice from 1954 to 1973 except for two years. He was a member of the First Baptist Church, Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, and Eunice Industrial Development Committee. He was the director and charted member of Eastern New Mexico Inter Community Water Supply Association.

     While mayor, Pete was the moving power in the city's purchase of the property for the municipal golf course along with the land adjacent for a recreational park and a fishing lake. Later this was named Stephens Park. During his tenure in office, Eunice built a new Community Center, a new sewage plant, a new City Hall, and a Fire Station. He was still serving as mayor in 1973, when on the way to his ranch he died of a heart attack at the age of 77.

     Ethel Stephens, while still owning her home in Eunice, is living in the Good Samaritan Center in Lovington. Pete's daughter Eva Toussaint live in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Francis Marion is raising cattle in Paden, Oklahoma. Wayne works for El Paso Natural Gas in El Paso, Texas. William O. lives in Eunice and still operates the old ranch along with his son Wily Pete Stephens.