Historical Marker

Susan Parks (1895-1981)

Susan “Susie” Parks operated the telephone switchboard in 1916. She and her husband, Garnet, owned and published the Columbus Courier newspaper and lived in back of the office on Broadway Street. Susie, alone with her infant daughter, Gwen, awoke in the early morning of March 9 to gunshots and shouts of, “Viva Villa!” Pancho Villa’s army was raiding the village. Susie bravely withstood the gunfire, using her switchboard to summon National Guard troops from Deming.  Susie and Gwen were wounded by glass and fragments of bullets, but both survived the attack.