Parmer County, Texas

Obituaries

William Halbert “Hop” Graham William Halbert "Hop" Graham, 81, community leader and former owner and publisher of the Lovington Leader, died Tuesday at Covenant Hospital in Lubbock, Texas after suffering a stroke Friday, December 9, 2011. He was a second-generation publisher and a pioneer in the newspaper industry in the 1950s and was the first to use web-fed offset printing in the Texas panhandle and New Mexico. In the late 1950s, he was the principal person behind Texas newspapers the Stratford Star, the Bovina Blade, the Farwell State Line Tribune and the Mach Meter, the base paper out at Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, NM. Graham heard of the development in the Dallas area of a web-fed press and decided the new technology of offset printing was the hope of the future for small papers that had a hard time finding good help. He bought the second offset press manufactured and put it in Friona, Texas in 1958. He became the first person between Dallas and Denver to use the new method. He moved the printing press to Lovington, New Mexico with his family in 1965 to run the Lovington Leader. The new press made the Leader the most modern newspaper in New Mexico at the time. The technology caught on, soon all newspapers converted to offset printing. Graham, a Lovington Citizen of the Year recipient, was widely known for his community service work and used the newspaper and his energy to help raise funds for community causes. He was instrumental in helping raise funds for the Good Samaritan Center before it was built and also helped raise funds for the reopening of Nor-Lea Hospital. He and Hoyt Caldwell, the owner and voice of KLEA, were roasted during the fund drive. He started the Lovington Community Christmas Card in the 1960s to raise funds for the community Christmas decorations. The Community Christmas Card fund continues today. He more recently was a charter member of the Lea County Athletic Hall of Fame board and single-handedly raised $45,000 the Hall of Fame's first year to help get it open. Texas journalism professionals named Graham to the Panhandle Press Association Hall of Fame in 2002 for his pioneering efforts in the industry. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Friday, December 23rd at First United Methodist Church in Lovington with Rev. Jaron Graham, grandson and pastor of First Church of the Nazarene and Rev. Virgil Ichtertz, pastor of First United Methodist Church, officiating. Visitation will be Thursday, December 22nd from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Stevens Funeral Home. Services are under the direction of Stevens Funeral Home. Graham was born August 29, 1930 in Farwell, Texas to William Halbert and Araminta Black Graham. He was raised in Farwell and attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX and transferred to Eastern New Mexico University when his father became ill. He graduated from ENMU with a degree in Journalism and ran the family newspaper in Farwell until moving to Lovington. He married Bessie LaJeanne Dudley on June 10, 1952. She preceded him in death on July 21, 2007. He is also preceded in death by son Ron, who was killed in an ultralight plane crash in 1985, and two sisters, Allie Blanche Crume and Sammie Graham. He is survived by: four sons Hal Graham and his wife Sandy of Stephenville, TX, John Graham and his wife Jeanine of Lovington, Andy Graham of Los Angeles, CA, and Steve Graham and his wife Carolyn of Los Angeles, CA; one daughter-in-law, Gina Fort of Lovington; four grandsons Jaron Graham and his wife Elizabeth, and Tyler Graham and his wife Amanda, all of Lovington, Dustin Graham of Socorro, NM, and Jack Graham of Los Angeles, CA; three granddaughters Courtney Graham of Lovington, Kate Graham of Los Angeles, CA, and LaShawn Byrd and her husband Brian of Roswell; and two great-grandsons. Obituary from Stevens Funeral Home Lovington, NM {Submitted by Erny Long}