D. L. “Hank” Hankins, 89, was born in a dug-out in Highway, NM on July 2, 1927, to Sarah P. and Levi V. Hankins, and passed away on Mar. 4, 2017 at Heartland Continuing Care Center in Portales. Dr. Pierce, a local physician, rode the mail truck from Portales to Highway to deliver Hank.
His mother later married the local Sheriff, J. H. Bond, and five of the seven children of the family moved to the local jail. Hank served in the US Navy during WWII and the Korean War. On Dec. 11, 1948, he married Rhuhamma Savage. They were married 57 years before her death in 2003. Hank worked several jobs in Clovis and Portales. Those included employment at the REA, American National Insurance, Trader Horn Surplus City where he was the manager, and as Credit Manager for C&S Oil, where he worked until his retirement. He then started Hank’s Beef Jerky, and was later joined by his daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Emery Hankins in the operation of Hank’s Bar-B-Que.
Hank never met a stranger. He loved life, and lived it to the fullest. He loved to hunt and fish, and his lifelong passion was hunting arrowheads with his childhood friends, Gordon Brown and Jim Warnica.
Hank loved the nurses and staff at Heartland Continuing Care Center and considered them his extended family. He will be greatly missed by his family and all his friends. There will be no service, at his request. Cremation has taken place.
He is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, David and Brenda Hankins of Portales and a daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Emery “Bubba” Hankins also of Portales; a step-daughter, Gloria Pageau of Kingman, AZ; eight grandchildren, seventeen great-grandchildren and eight great-great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his mother, Sara P. Bond and his father, Levi V. Hankins; three sisters, Lillian Smith, Ina Mae Ables and Pearl Stirman; three brothers, Ocie Stirman, Parker Stirman and Earl Stirman, who died in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines, two grandsons, Pecos Welch and Ian Hobbs and by his wife, Rhuhamma “Rae” Hankins.
He is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, David and Brenda Hankins of Portales and a daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Emery “Bubba” Hankins also of Portales; a step-daughter, Gloria Pageau of Kingman, AZ; eight grandchildren, seventeen great-grandchildren and eight great-great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his mother, Sara P. Bond and his father, Levi V. Hankins; three sisters, Lillian Smith, Ina Mae Ables and Pearl Stirman; three brothers, Ocie Stirman, Parker Stirman and Earl Stirman, who died in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines, two grandsons, Pecos Welch and Ian Hobbs and by his wife, Rhuhamma “Rae” Hankins.
