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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.
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Marguerite Beede talks about moving with her husband and children to Loma, Colorado as part of a resettlement program during the Dust Bowl. She reminisces about teaching at the Loma School for over 20 years. She describes the establishment of the Loma Community Hall and its vital place in the community. She remembers some of the town’s locals. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries...
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LeRoy and Sharon Gardner talk about his appointment as the pastor of the United Presbyterian Church in Loma, Colorado in 1979 and about the members of the congregation. They address the tug-of-war between the Western Slope Presbytery and local churchgoers over the church property. They recount the locals’ eventual victory and the church’s name change to the Loma Community Church in 1979. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History...
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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...
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John Sylvester Long discusses the religious life and customs in the Church of the Brethren, and the early Twentieth century history of Fruita and Loma, Colorado. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Cecil Harper talks about his memories from early childhood in Loma, Colorado. He speaks about his father’s position as a surveyor on the Highline Canal, history of the dam’s construction, and about the celebration that was held upon the canal’s completion. He remembers the schools that he attended, including the Loma and Valley View Schools. He recalls his early jobs working for ranching outfits and working as a coal miner before he began life...
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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...
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Florence Giles discusses the early Twentieth century history of Fruita and Loma, Colorado. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
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Lois Long describes the homestead she grew up on near Loma. She remembers living in a tent and then a pre-cut house, and drinking ditch water. She recalls her father and uncle moving the Valley View School to north of the Colorado River in the 1920’s, and the school bus that was sometimes a horse-drawn cart. Leland Buniger talks about his childhood in Grand Junction, Fruita and Loma. He describes farming potatoes, beans and hay. He speaks about...
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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...
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James and Ida Jaenicke talk about moving to Loma, Colorado in 1937 as part of the US Farm Security Administration’s resettlement program for Dust Bowl refugees. They speak about aspects of farm life in Loma, such as relying on ditch water for drinking water. They remember running a dairy farm with 30 cows and 125 chickens. They recall people and stores in Fruita, where they shopped. James talks about his life in the congregation of the United Presbyterian...
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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....
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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...
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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...
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Ruth Goss talks about her early days in Fruita and Loma, Colorado, and about life on a farm. She remembers teaching at the Valley View School and Loma School for several years. She speaks about her husband’s job as a ditch rider on the Grand Valley Canal and the Independent Ranchman’s Ditch. She talks about dances that took place at the Loma Community Hall. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of...
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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...
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Lois Saunders talks about early life in Fruita, Loma, and Mack, Colorado, about life on a farm with her husband Roe Saunders, and about Colorado Mesa University’s Saunders Field House, which was named for her husband. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society.