44TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 1999

EXPRESSING THE CONDOLENCES OF THE LEGISLATURE UPON THE DEATH OF SENATOR I.M. "IKE" SMALLEY.

WHEREAS, I.M. "Ike" Smalley, the cigar-chomping senator from Deming, was a fixture in New Mexico state politics for almost four decades, beginning January 14, 1947 when he began representing district 21 in the house of representatives, which he did through 1952; and

WHEREAS, he became Senator Ike Smalley on January 8, 1957 and remained in the senate for thirty-two years; and

WHEREAS, at his death, Senator Ike Smalley held the record as the longest serving legislator and longest serving president pro tempore in New Mexico history; and

WHEREAS, "the Bear" was a conservative democrat who won praise from democrats and republicans alike; and

WHEREAS, Senator Smalley's legislative service to New Mexico spanned the terms of twelve governors, not counting himself when he was governor for one day in 1984 when the line of succession fell to him; and

WHEREAS, of his many accomplishments in the legislature, Senator Smalley was proudest of his work to pass the modern legal codes, including the Criminal Code, the Eminent Domain Code and the Probate Code, and to ensure funding for the state's museums; and

WHEREAS, Senator Smalley's life typified the rugged individualism and adventurism of the west, even though he was a New Jersey-born descendant of English settlers in Plymouth, Massachusetts; and

WHEREAS, he ran away from home at the age of fourteen to join the merchant marine, he prospected for gold in Mexico and Honduras and, even in his nineties, Ike was still off-roading in a four-wheel drive Jeep; and

WHEREAS, while working in India for a rubber company, Senator Smalley met his wife, Wandra Pollard Smalley, and moved with her to New Mexico; and

WHEREAS, they were married for fifty-five years and had a daughter, Cita; and

WHEREAS, he was graduated from the university of Pennsylvania's prestigious Wharton school of finance, received his LLB degree from Southern Methodist university law school and practiced law in Deming for fifty-five years; and

WHEREAS, Issac Mulford Smalley died at the age of ninety-four on Wednesday, November 4, 1998 at his home, with his daughter Cita by his side;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that its heartfelt condolences be offered on the passage of the Great Bear, Senator I.M. "Ike" Smalley; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to Cita Smalley Suratgar and her family of London, England.