By Rick Holben, East Mountain Historical Society
Known to his friends as “Pop,” Clinton M. Graham and his wife Rubye were among the earliest residents of Sandia Knolls, having bought a lot from original developer Charles G. Shambaugh shortly after the subdivision was developed off Frost Road in 1956.
“Pop” was also an active member of the District 6 Volunteer Fire Department, and perhaps on the day of this early 1970s photo, he had stopped to talk shop with fellow volunteer Hubert “Hugh” Overall. Overall’s Sandia Texaco gas station at the time was located just inside the northwest triangle at the intersection of North NM-14 (then known as NM-10) and the Sandia Crest Road, also known as Highway 44. Overall’s Sandia Texaco was torn down in 1974 for a new alignment of the Sandia Crest Road.
Born in 1891, Pop Graham started a career in railroading at the age of 17 in Salida, Colorado. He worked with various railroads in the Pacific Northwest until 1917, when he came to New Mexico, landing a job in Las Vegas with the Santa Fe Railroad. The job only lasted a few weeks, as WWI broke out, and Graham and several other men from Las Vegas joined the military. Graham served a term in the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of sergeant, before returning to Las Vegas in 1919, where he rejoined the workforce at the Santa Fe Railroad and married Rubye Gandy. Graham retired from the railroad in 1947, making his way to Albuquerque and eventually the East Mountains, where he and his wife built their home in Sandia Knolls. They called it “Graham Cracker Ranch” and remained there until they died in the 1980s.
Hugh Overall’s Sandia Texaco gas station was originally built about 1960 by Don Underwood as Don’s Texaco. Underwood sold the station to Hugh Overall about 1963.
Overall and his family had moved from Albuquerque to Cedar Crest the year before that sale, according to Hugh’s son, Ron, who shared this photo with the East Mountain Historical Society. While in Albuquerque, Hugh had worked for the Robert E. McKee Construction Co., which in 1958 was the general contractor for construction of the Ideal Cement Plant in Tijeras, and Hugh Overall worked on that project. After buying the Texaco, Overall changed the name of Don’s Texaco to Sandia Texaco and ran it as such until the Sandia Crest Road alignment in 1974.
Because both Underwood and Overall were active members of the District 6 Volunteer Fire Department, one of District 6’s two fire engines continuously was stored at the gas station – when it was Don’s Texaco in the early 1960s and again when it was Sandia Texaco – until a fire station was built near there on Highway 10.
This photo was part of a collection of family photos recently donated to the East Mountain Historical by Ron Overall. Since 2022, EMHS has had a dedicated archival storage area the Tijeras Senior Center. Volunteers are currently working on organizing EMHS’ photo archives and creating a digital collection to make it more accessible. Donations of East Mountain area photos and stories such as this are always welcome additions to that collection.