Middlebrooks Family Association Newsletter June 2010

Clovis Road, the Dr. Roy Hunt Murder, Littlefield, Texas 1942-1943, written by
+Dana Middlebrooks Samuelson and +Robert John Samuelson, M.D.
Dana is the daughter of the late +Allen Dale Middlebrooks and granddaughter of Jim Lee Middlebrooks and Myrtie Lee Reeves. Dana married Robert Samuelson in 1989. On November 10, 1996, Dana was mentioned in the Dallas Morning News for "Best Concepts" in a writing contest for a new television series to replace "Dallas." She has had a lifelong interest in medicine, true crime, and psychology. She and her husband published Common Ground – the Wheat and the Chaff in 2005, a genealogy collection of stories from several allied families.
Dana's mother, Sue Middlebrooks, told Dana and her husband about a Littlefield doctor and his wife who were killed in their home in the 1940s while their two young daughters were in the house. Dr. Roy E. Hunt started practice in Littlefield in 1937, which was the year +Waylon Jennings was born in the same town. Hunt bought a home, built a hospital along with his partners, and survived an attempted murder in 1942 by a medical school classmate. He was ultimately killed, along with his wife, in the middle of a night "hit" in their home on East 7th Street in Littlefield in 1943. This is a true Texas crime story.
The Roy Hunt murders of Littlefield, Texas, were among the top news stories in Texas during World War II, and made the front pages in Texas for several years. Clovis Road is the first publication that tells the whole story of the crimes that ended the young doctor's life and the life of his wife.
The book discusses the court trials, the motives, and the eventual outcomes of the characters involved in a medical training love triangle that so affected the grandson of a founder of Lubbock, Texas, and the son of a prominent physician and state senator. It discusses nurses' education, medical practice, and small town politics. The heroes of the story are a Texas Ranger, a District Court Attorney, and the physician brother of the victim.
Plainview, Texas, attorney Bill LaFont grew up hearing about the trial that riveted citizens across Texas. His father, Judge Harold LaFont, was District Attorney during the murder trial, as well as the previous trial when Dr. Billy Newton shot Dr. Hunt on Clovis Road, outside of Littlefield. LaFont recalls, "Dad tried to get in position to write a book but never took the time to sit down and do it."
The Samuelsons traveled throughout Texas for a year to get the material to write the book. They interviewed people who were in Littlefield that day in 1943, searched many trial court and probate records, and visited museums and newspaper files to be able to tell the story. Bill LaFont allowed them to research his father's records and transcripts of the trials that he had donated to the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. The first-edition hardback is 184 pages, 93,000 words, and has about fifty illustrations. It tells the background of the families involved and carries the story to the conclusion of the dramatic epic story.
Dana's father, Allen Dale Middlebrooks, ran a service station in Littlefield and in Bula, Texas, for many years and passed away in September 2006. A Littlefield service station figures prominently in the Dr. Hunt murder story. Dale had one brother, Cleo Middlebrooks, and two sisters, Mardell and Robbie Lee. Dale Middlebrooks also worked at Pantex Munitions Plant in Amarillo during World War II, at the same time that a significant character in Clovis Road worked at that plant. Many coincidences like that were discovered while Dana and her husband were writing the book.
The book is available by writing them at 6257 Highgate Lane, Dallas, Texas 75214

MFA Newsletter Volume 9 Number 3

Harold LaFont in 1950 Photo

This photo was included in the article in the Plainview Daily Herald in March 2010 in their interview with Bill LaFont. The photo is of a much younger Harold LaFont than pictured in Clovis Road.

Haunted Sites in Clovis Road

Three of the sites in the Clovis Road story have been reported to be "haunted." First, the Jefferson Davis Memorial Hospital in Houston where the main characters in the story trained was vacant for many years and on a list of haunted places in Houston to visit. Another site is the Plainview Hilton Hotel, the headquarters of the Newton defense for many years. Finally, one of the occupants of the Hunt home on 7th street in Littlefield in 2009 said they felt like the house was haunted.

Ups and Downs on Clovis Road

The downs - the independent publisher award went to "Dead Weight." The Lubbbock Avalanche Journal entertainment editor is not answering our emails for followup. Texas Monthly says we were "too late" submitting the book for consideration, it went to them the month it came out, February? The Dallas News saying they only consider books from large publishing houses. The ups - great comments and letters coming in from the hundreds of readers who have the book. The article in the Plainview Herald. The article in the Lamb County Leader. The outreach from the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech. The book is in two museums and three libraries. The blog has Judy as its first follower..... Actually the Clovis Road outside Littlefield is pretty flat and the furrows in the nearby fields were just deep enough to hide Dr. Hunt after he was shot. A year ago we were going through the mountain of material from Harold LaFont's files from Plainview. Saw that Mr. Lenro Keeton died about 1966. He was one of the people bound up by Jim Thomas.

Clovis Road - Self Published

In the Dallas Morning News May 23, 2010 it stated that in 2009 there were 764,448 self published books, like Clovis Road - Dr. Roy Hunt Murder 1942 - 1943, compared to 288,355 titles by publishing houses. The article by Virginia Heffernan titled "How the digital age is making self-publishing respectable" cites the data from Bowker bibliographic company. The number of self published books was up 181 percent from the previous year. Highgate Publishing LLC owns and distributes the Hunt murder story.

Purchase Clovis Road

Mineral Wells High School Class of 1962 friends have asked for details about how to purchase Clovis Road, the story of the Dr. Roy Hunt murder. The foreword is by Jerry Scott Hughes. Dedicated to Harold LaFont and Bill LaFont. Send your name and address to 6257 Highgate Lane, Dallas, Texas, 75214 and a check, cash, or money order for $30. The book is 184 pages, has 93000 words and 50 illustrations. It is hardback, first edition, and is its second printing. It is currently also available at Waymore's, the Waylon Jennings Museum and store, in Littlefield, Texas and at Amazon.com.

May Update

We submitted a pitch to the Ira Glass NPR radio show and another to the Amarillo Globe newspaper for a story. The 12th of May was Mr. Bill LaFont's birthday. Several of my high school classmates, Mineral Wells High School Class of 1962, have ordered the book this weekend.