City and town life
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Ann Stokes talks about homesteading on East Orchard Mesa after her family moved to Mesa County, Colorado in 1904. She remembers her father working on the “fancy” masonry for the Grand Junction train station. She recalls living in a one-room log cabin and sharing that cabin with a horse for an evening. She speaks about the development of irrigation on East Orchard Mesa and her father’s peach orchard. She describes walking with her siblings four...
Format:
Voice Recording
Josephine Dickey, an early African-American resident of Grand Junction, talks about her mother’s illness and stepping in to care for her siblings after her mother’s death. She remembers her mother’s doctor and other doctors that cared for the family. She recalls her father William Wesley Taylor III and how he worked to put his brother and sister through college. She talks about African-Americans as portrayed in television programs, especially...
Format:
Voice Recording
Richard Williams talks about his family’s arrival in Grand Junction, Colorado in 1908. He speaks about his father’s purchase of the Independent Abstract Company and about his own involvement with several abstract and title companies in town. He discusses the formation of the Grand Junction Lions Club, the Grand Junction Lions Club Carnival, and the club’s fundraising for Grand Junction Junior College and other local causes. He speaks about his...
Format:
Voice Recording
Gertrude Rader discusses her time spent teaching in Loma, Colorado in the early 1900s. She talks about the role of the sugar beet company as landowner and employer in the area. She includes details about the schools, businesses, and churches that existed in Loma, her involvement starting Mesa County’s first hot school lunch program, and her experiences attending an annual fish fry in Horsethief Canyon. Gertrude also shares memories about the many...
Format:
Voice Recording
Carl Swanson talks about his early life and school days near Loma, Colorado, where his family settled and farmed. He recalls working for the Mesa County Road Department for 36 years, beginning in 1941, and becoming a foreman in 1953. He remembers road damage caused by mudslides on Douglas Pass that took two weeks to repair. He recalls the gilsonite mining boom and local coal mining. He speaks about clearing irrigation ditches and serving on the board...
Format:
Voice Recording
Cleaola Ernst talks about moving to Colorado from Kansas on a narrow-gauge train in 1897, when she was five years old. She speaks about her nursing education and working as a nurse. She remembers her family’s life in Hotchkiss, Colorado, and the general store that her parents ran. She tells the story of an eagle that purportedly picked up a small girl near Norwood, and how her family came to be in possession of the eagle after it was shot. She remembers...
Format:
Voice Recording
Cora Henry talks about her birth in Loma, Colorado, the death of her mother shortly after her birth, and about her adoption by the Brumbaugh family. She remembers the Loma grocery store, hotel and post office run by her parents, David and Elizabeth Brumbaugh. She speaks about the hotel’s residents, and recalls Chipeta and other Ute people staying at the hotel. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of...
Format:
Voice Recording
Essie Aspinall talks about her arrival in Palisade in 1910, her childhood there, and life in town. She speaks about growing up on a fruit farm and attending school at Mt. Lincoln, where she met her future husbands Frank Best and Wayne Aspinall. She describes teaching in a one-room school house in Sedgewick, Colorado. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western...
Format:
Voice Recording
Frank Simonetti Sr. talks about his arrival in the United States from southern Italy in 1914 and his eventual arrival in Grand Junction, Colorado in 1918, where he began a long career with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. He remembers a fire that burnt down the D&RG icehouse, the railroad shop strike in 1922, and working a seven-day work week for thirty years. He recalls different kinds of locomotives. Angela Simonetti recalls growing up in the...
Format:
Compound
In a three part interview with Mesa County Oral History Project folklorist Elain Thatcher, George Watts talks about his life and shares poetry, songs and stories. In part one, he talks about his childhood in Hayden, Colorado, the early death of his father, and growing up on a 200 acre farm. He shares several poems and stories, including some tall tales. He remembers the people of Hayden.
In part two, he speaks about the importance of song during...
Format:
Voice Recording
Hazel Murphy talks about the D.B. Store in Loma, Colorado, a general store that employed her husband and was owned by her brother. She also speaks about the history of Loma institutions, such as the Loma Presbyterian Church, Methodist Church, the Loma Community House, and the canning factory. She discusses a government resettlement program that brought in refugees from the Dust Bowl. She touches on the citizens and businesses of Loma. She discusses...
Format:
Voice Recording
Hilda Cary remembers moving with her husband Joseph Cary to Loma in 1951 and their life in the dairy farm business. She talks about the Presbyterian and Methodist churches of Loma. She speaks about teaching at the Loma School. She recalls other aspects of farm life and fishing trips to the Grand Mesa. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Format:
Voice Recording
John Brach, the son of Italian immigrants, talks about his family moving from Aguilar, Colorado to Loma so that they could work in agriculture instead of the coal mines. He speaks about relying on ditch water for drinking water, using carbide lights, and a coal stove. He remembers people who came to Loma as part of a Federal resettlement program during the Dust Bowl, including the De Kruger, Bittle and Beede families. He recalls other residents and...
Format:
Voice Recording
Leola Wiswell talks about moving with her husband to Loma, Colorado in 1941, about joining the Jolly 16 Club, and about the people and community of Loma. She reminisces about life in the United Presbyterian Church in Loma. She recalls serving as the PTA board president, the origin of Mesa County School District 51’s hot lunch program at the Loma School, and her career in food services. She remembers the Loma Community Hall and programs held there....
Format:
Voice Recording
Lou Guccini describes growing up in Loma, Colorado, his father’s sheepranching business, speaking Italian in the home, and learning English in school. He remembers loving baseball and playing on town baseball teams with his brothers against the town teams of Hotchkiss, Rhone, Fruita, Appleton, and other locales. He describes how he became a sugar beet farmer with the help of his father-in-law, Thomas Wayne Beede. He recalls German prisoners of war...
Format:
Compound
Marjorie Crow talks about her education in the Palisade School and Palisade High School in the 1920’s and 30’s. She speaks about what she did at home for recreation, and about her mother’s piano tutoring business. She describes Christmas programs, and band and chorus activities. She discusses her higher education at Grand Junction Junior College and the University of Colorado. She talks about her life teaching elementary grades in Delta, at...
Format:
Voice Recording
Ray Boggs talks about his family’s move to Colorado and about attending the University of Colorado at Boulder. He remembers playing on a baseball team for the Midwest Oil Company and briefly as a professional pitcher for the Boston Braves. He describes pitching methods. He recalls working for the International Harvester company, a farm implement dealer, and how the company brought him to Grand Junction, where he became the manager of the store there...
Format:
Voice Recording
Sterling, Velda and Marie Bittle talk about their lives in Loma, Colorado and the surrounding area. Marie talks about coming to Loma from Kansas when her parents homestead in eastern Utah in 1923, and about running a dairy farm in the 1940’s and 50’s. Price Bittle talks about coming to Loma in 1920 with his parents, helping them farm north of town, working as a ranch foreman in Kannah Creek for E.H. Munro, and working for the Elizondo sheep ranching...
Format:
Voice Recording
Verne Judson talks about his early life in the Pomona area of Mesa County, Colorado, and the family’s subsequent move to Loma. He speaks about his long career as a farmer prior to retiring in 1965. He remembers some of the people and places of Loma. He talks about his father Orin Judson’s career as a farmer and rancher, and about his death from Tuberculosis in 1923. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration...
Format:
Voice Recording
Wilbur Downey talks about his family settling in Loma, Colorado, where his father bought a pool hall in 1919. He describes the agricultural character of Loma at that time. He and Mildred speak about running the Loma Store, a general store, and about other businesses in Loma. They talk about the settlement of Loma by people escaping the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s. They discuss Loma’s train depot, passenger train service to Loma, freight trains that...
