Las Cruces Daily Digest Saturday, August 08, 2026
Ty's Take
Carol Ann Knapp Foreman and Clarence Villemez are gone this week, along with Shannyn Caldwell, and that's the kind of loss that hits different in a town like Las Cruces where you run into people at the Mesilla Valley Mall or the Farmers Market and actually know their names. We're reading about new campus leaders at Gadsden ISD trying to figure out what comes next, and somewhere in this paper there's a story about someone who loved jewelry and golf enough to make both of them matter. That's what you notice when you get older in a place, whether you've been here five years or fifty: the people who made the small things work, who showed up, who cared about their hobbies enough to become good at them. The Mesilla Valley keeps turning, crops still need water from the Rio Grande, and NMSU still plays football on Saturday, but this week there's less noise in the rooms where they used to be.
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Las Cruces Bulletin
Carol Ann Knapp Foreman, a Las Cruces resident who helped establish Valley Transit Mix and Valley Leasing & Development with her husband Harold, passed away peacefully on May 16, 2026, at age 88. Born in Lovington, New Mexico, and a 1956 graduate of Clovis High School, she was known for her...
Clarence "Clare" Villemez, 87, died peacefully in his sleep on January 9, 2026, in Las Cruces after spending 30 years as a professor and scientist in biochemistry at the University of Wyoming. He retired in 2003 and relocated to Las Cruces with his wife, Barbara, leaving behind a legacy of...
Shannyn Caldwell, a pioneering radio personality and author who began her career at age 16 at WJNR, passed away on January 8, 2026, following a battle with stage 4 inflammatory breast cancer. Despite her diagnosis, she continued working in radio and inspired countless listeners with her strength...
Twin passions: jewelry and golf
Johanna Jo Contreras, an eighth grader at Mesilla Valley Christian School and owner of JC Jewelry, is combining her entrepreneurial spirit with her artistic talents by handcrafting bracelets, necklaces, and earrings that she sells at local farmers markets. The 13-year-old learned about business...
Four new Gadsden ISD campus leaders
The Gadsden Independent School District has named four new campus leaders for the 2026–2027 school year, bringing decades of combined experience in instructional leadership and student achievement. Dr. Miguel Serrano will lead Berino Elementary School following a 30-year career in public education,...
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