On January 9, 1945, a World War II cargo ship the SS Hobbs was launched from Richmond, Calif. On hand for the launching were Cora Evelyn Pribble, her husband L. B., and several family members of Mr. and Mrs. Pribble, who lived in Hobbs. Mrs. Pribble was the designated “Sponsor” of the ship. That meant she would be the one …

Seventy-four years ago on April 6, 1945, a World War II ship named the SS Hobbs was sunk by a Japanese kamikaze attack near the island of Okinawa. The ship was named for the town of Hobbs, and Hobbs resident Mrs. L. B. Pribble was chosen as the “Sponsor” of the ship, an honor that designated her the woman who …

Working men, developers, promoters, adventurers Some of the early photographs of modern Hobbs, those images of the first oil boom in the late 1920s, and 1930s, are fascinating and sometimes hypnotizing pictures of that era which seems so long ago. Take for instance, a photograph I’m going to call the “Sky Hawk” photo of early Hobbs. I am giving it …