Rex Maddaford

Previously featured members:

Don Whatley

Harold Goff

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Never a Bad Day for Sunny New Zealander

Rex Maddaford’s outgoing personality is a familiar pleasure to those who know him, but he’s anything but a laid-back chap from Down Under.  

At age 14 he was off to a quick start – literally - running 100 miles a week.  By 20, Rex was officially ranked one of the top three fastest runners in the world, representing the British Commonwealth in the Olympics at 10,000 meters. 

Those quick feet of his brought him all the way to New Mexico a few years later when Eastern New Mexico University offered him a track scholarship.

That bold move proved life-changing -  he met his wife of 33 years, Jeanette, at the university.  “Athletics wasn’t a bonding thing for us,” he relates.  “She’s not athletic at all.  Zero. Zilch. Nada.”   Soon after they married, Jeanette’s father died unexpectedly and they realized Jeanette’s mother would need help managing several thousand acres of land the family owned in Tucumcari.  “We came home as a rescue measure,” Rex says.

Once settled, he began working in Tucumcari at the elementary school, naturally enough, in physical education.  It became clear that his place in the world was teaching kids.  “I tell the kids, ‘it’s sure not the money,’” he says.  “By the time you get your degree and all the certifications, I sometimes think I have more education than many doctors.  But I’m always excited to see the kids.  If you don’t get that out of it, you’re in the wrong job.”

Nineteen years later, Rex moved into the classroom to teach communications, health and English at Tucumcari High School and enjoys it.  “I tell my kids there’s never a bad day, there’s just some days are better than others.  Every day is a good day.  I really believe that.  If you don’t enjoy seeing the sunrise and the sunset, what have you got?”

He retires on July 1, 2007 and he’s excited about taking on new activities, traveling back to New Zealand to see his brothers and sisters, and looking after his 20-head of cattle and alfalfa crop.  “We have so much to do, so many acres, the cattle, the farm.  Maybe I’ll sell insurance.  I don’t know!

“There have been so many highlights in my life,” Rex relates.  “Being one of the top runners in the world, and then meeting a beautiful woman and raising a family with her – our two grown children – what could top that?”