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He was a Civil War Veteran, physician, and coroner who came to Grand Junction, Colorado in 1883 to enter into the cattle business.
He was born in Canada, but came to Maine in order to join the 2nd Main Cavalry, so that he could fight for the Union in the Civil War. He came to Colorado in 1880, and was a coroner in Fairplay for a few years. Shortly after coming to Grand Junction, he scouted the area, searching for a suitable place for a cattle...
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Voice Recording
Armand de Beque, son of De Beque, Colorado founder Wallace A.E. de Beque, talks about the history of the oil shale industry in Western Colorado. 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.
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Voice Recording
Armand de Beque talks about the history of Ravensbeque, Colorado, founded by his father Wallace A.E. De Beque prior to the town’s relocation to the present site of De Beque. He speaks about Wallace De Beque’s training and career as a pioneer doctor, and about the family’s roots in both Canada and France. He talks about his brothers’ service in Europe during World War I and the military service of his sons. He discusses his memories of growing...
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Person
Armand de Beque was an early Mesa County resident who lived in De Beque, Colorado his entire life. He was the son of Marie Louise de Lavillette and Wallace A.E. de Beque, a Grand Junction pioneer, early doctor, and the founder of the town of De Beque. Armand attended De Beque High School (1931-1932), St. John’s Military School (1928-1930), Herrick Drama School (1935), Mesa College (1949-1951), and Colorado Teachers College (1953-1954). He married...
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Person
He was born in Missouri to Charles Assa Brunk and Minnie Alice (Weaver) Brunk. His father was a farmer and his mother was a homemaker. The family moved to Mesa County, Colorado and settled in Orchard Mesa in 1908, when Glen was six years old. There, the family farmed fruit.
Glen attended Grand Junction High School. He then received education in highway engineering, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and geometrical drawing from his positions with...
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Voice Recording
Armand de Beque describes the early days of his father, W.A.E. De Beque, as one of the founders of De Beque, Colorado. He also talks about the cattle ranching business, local legends of the valley, oil rigs in the area, and sheep and cattle ranching wars. 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.
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Person
A French woman who married Dr. W.A.E de Beque in 1911 in De Beque, Colorado. They met in Mexico City where W.A.E worked as an investigator for the New York Life Insurance Company. She came from a "cultured" background, and had grown up with servants and many amenities. She was shocked by the lack of electric lights and plumbing in De Beque, and had never done housework prior to her move to Colorado. One humorous story included her cooking a chicken...
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Person
Dr. W.A.E. de Beque's brother who helped him with his cattle ranching operation.
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Organization
Company founded by Dr. W.A.E. de Beque, William R. Warren, George Newton, D.D. Potter, Bob de Beque, and William Dinkel to locate and patent oil shale claims on the Western Slope. Oral history interviewee Armand de Beque recalled the painstaking process his father went through to survey and file claims, only to find out that they had overlapped with somebody else’s claims, requiring him to start over. After filing the claims, they were required...
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Voice Recording
Lulu Kennon describes life growing up in near De Beque, Colorado, and her career as a teacher in country schools near De Beque. 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.
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Voice Recording
Glen Brunk describes his career with the Mesa County Road Department from 1919 to 1929. He talks about the equipment that the road department used and about pouring the first asphalt in the county at the intersection of 30 and F Roads. He recalls his family’s move to De Beque in 1929, when he became an employee of the Colorado State Highway department. He remembers maintaining state roads, including the Plateau Canyon Highway from De Beque to the...
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Voice Recording
Zelma Parkes discusses her early life in Grand Junction, Colorado. She also talks about ranch life with her husband on Clear Creek, near De Beque. 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.
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Voice Recording
During a lecture on the history of St. Mary’s Hospital (at a Mesa County Historical Society meeting), Pat LeMaster talks about the history of the St. Mary’s Hospital’s founding agency, the Sisters of Charity. She recalls the history of doctors in the Grand Valley and the conditions they dealt with. She tells the history of St. Mary’s from its inception in 1896 until 1983. She speaks about hospital services during the Great Depression. She...
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Voice Recording
Vesta Fitzpatrick talks about her mother’s skill as a seemstress and how she made the family’s clothes. She remembers family life and entertainment during her youth, her parents reciting poems, and her father’s storytelling abilities. She recalls taking care of the family from a young age after her mother became ill. She speaks about seeing Buffalo Bill’s wild West show in Lincoln Park and going to chautauquas in Collbran. She remembers the...
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Voice Recording
In a general meeting of the Mesa County Historical Society, Armand de Beque describes the history of oil shale development in De Beque and the Piceance Basin, Colorado. He offers three stories for how it was discovered that oil shale can burn. He describes the founding of the Shale Oil Syndicate, an organization founded by his father, Dr. W.A.E. de Beque, William R. Warren, George Newton, and William Dinkel. He explains the lengthy process the Shale...
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Compound
Walter Flasche talks about his birth in Nebraska and moving to De Beque, Colorado with his parents via covered wagon around 1908. He remembers life in the Roan Creek area, severe drought and heavy snows. He recalls battles between cattle ranchers and sheep ranchers in the area. He speaks about his work as a logger and his work in the nascent oil shale industry. He describes how hard the life of a rancher and oil shale worker was, and how his wife...
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Compound
Anna E. Craig discusses her upbringing in Mesa, Colorado, including her social experiences, her father’s life as one of the few doctors in the area, the Mesa County Fair, her holiday rituals, methods of preserving food, and what it was like to own a hotel in Mesa. She also talks about an instance in the 1890’s when hundreds of sheep were driven over a cliff by cattle ranchers on the Grand Mesa, and other strife between cattle and sheep ranchers....
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Compound
Harry Sylvester Godby discusses his time spent working for and traveling with the Robinson Brothers Circus before moving to Grand Junction, Colorado. Harry also talks about his itinerant childhood moving from place to place, and the wide variety of jobs he worked throughout his life, including construction, mining, blacksmithing and potato farming, and how he was affected by the Great Depression. He shares his discovery of a large pile of boxes with...
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Voice Recording
Albert Rood describes the life and community involvements of his step-father William Weiser (nephew of William Moyer), his childhood in the Third Fruitridge area and the people who lived there, and stealing watermelons and floating them in the Grand Valley Canal. He also talks about his education at Mesa Junior College, and his work in the field for a Bureau of Entomology laboratory dedicated to eradicating a sugar beet pest. The interview was conducted...
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Compound
Helen Johnson talks about helping teach a WPA-funded dance class during the Great Depression. She speaks about other government programs, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps, and how they helped the people of Mesa County, Colorado during the Great Depression. She describes working for Douglas Aircraft in Los Angeles to manufacture airplanes during World War II, where she became the lead in her section. She talks about her brief career teaching...
