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Gertrude Rader talks about the profession and lives of teachers, who were primarily women, in Western Colorado during the early Twentieth century. She discusses how, in small communities, women were expected to be much more than teachers including: Doctors’ assistants in a pinch, de facto members of the families that they boarded with in cases of illness or maternity, and moral pillars of the community. She includes many anecdotes from her own teaching...
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To mark the centennial celebration of the town of Grand Junction, Colorado in 1981, the Mesa County Oral History Project wrote and recorded several radio plays about local history. Beginning on September 26, 1981, local radio stations KSTR, KREX-AM, KREX-FM, and KMSA broadcast the plays. Authors of the plays used interviews recorded by the Mesa County Oral History Project as inspiration. This archival recording contains the play Summer Fun, about...
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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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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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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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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.
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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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Mary talks about her early childhood in Kansas as one of nine children and her family's move to Colorado upon the death of her father. Mary details the train and its passengers during the move, including Russian immigrants coming to work the beet fields, and her mother's outreach. She mentions her mothers career training riding horses as a way to support the family. She talks about her relationships, children, and the struggle she faced trying to...
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Mary Plaisted talks about early days in Mesa County, Colorado, her marriage to Thomas Pierce, a farmer in Loma, and the busy life of a homemaker on the farm. She discusses various locations and institutions around the Western Slope, including the Paradox Valley, the Cowpuncher’s Reunion, and the Little Book Cliff Railway. She speaks about her warm family life as a child in Kansas, and life in Western Colorado after her father’s death. She also...
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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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Katherine Fuoco describes her family’s experience as German-Russian immigrants living in Loma, Colorado and elsewhere in the American West in the 1910’s and 20’s, raising sugar beets and homesteading. She also talks briefly about her life with husband James Fuoco, an Italian immigrant and car mechanic who went onto found the Fuoco Motor Company in Grand Junction, Colorado. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project,...
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This interview features Joe Peep, an early Fruita farmer, homesteader, and horse enthusiast. He also worked as a cowboy on Albert Turner’s ranch, and won the horse riding competition at Fruita’s Cowpuncher’s Reunion. 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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Howard Shults talks about his career as an auctioneer in Mesa County, Colorado. He also discusses the history of people, places and businesses throughout the county, including the Cross Orchard and the Vernon Z. Reed Ranch. Shults’ wife, Helen Shults, gives her occasional insight. 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...
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Early Mesa County resident Asunta Violeta “Susie” Mendicelli remembers her time spent in Atchee, Colorado, Italian American life in Grand Junction, and taking the train and riding bicycles into Grand Junction, Colorado. She also discusses life in Italy, the process of making sausages and capocollo, relationships between immigrants in Mesa County, the usage of midwives during childbirth, and riding the Interurban Line between Grand Junction and...
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Bertha Schlegel discusses growing up in Loma, Colorado and helping her family raise beets for Holly Sugar, and making sauerkraut, pickled apples, pickled watermelon and other ethnic food with her mother, who was a German immigrant from Russia. She also remembers her education and school activities throughout her childhood, including field days at the Fruita Central School and Grand Junction High School. She talks about obtaining a teaching degree,...
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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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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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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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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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Grace and Ralph Inskeep talk about coming to Mack, Colorado with Grace’s family in 1920. They speak about Ralph’s job working for the Bureau of Reclamation at Camp 7 and his subsequent job as a trackman for the Uintah Railway. They discuss the people and businesses of Loma and Mack, and living in the old Sunset School building. Ralph talks about working at Mesa College as a maintenance man. They speak about attending the Church of the Brethren...