TABLE OF CONTENTS

MAPS

POEM - SWEET BEULAH LAND

PROFILES

Allee, Dale

Armstrong, Jim

Clark, Frank D.

Conley, Mike and Linda (EMS Profile)

Donley, Leslie E.

Downey, Marshall

Evarts, Washington Irving

Even, Edward and Agatha

Even, Joseph

Flag and Mt. Nebo

Galbreath, Henry Thomas

Goodpasture Blacksmith Shop

Goodpasture Post Office

Hausman, Clement F.

Hoag Sr., Frank S.

Hoag Jr., Frank Stephen

Hooper, Betty Wheeler

Hughlitt, Francis Leroy

Hughlitt, Sylvester Smith

Hurd, Walter K.

Keating, Kay

Klipfel, August W.

Klipfel, Charles Herman

Klipfel, Willard M.

Koller, Edmund B.

Lorje, Elnora

Luzardo, Kathy (EMS profile)

Mace, Juan

Merchant, Walt

Merhing, Joe

Moulton, Bill and Anne (EMS profile)

Murray, Hal (EMS profile)

Myers, Orville

Neu, Shirleen

Outhier, Louis

Outhier, Norma

Outhier, Corky (EMS profile)

Pearson, John & Betty Lou

Quillian, Mrs. Asbury

Rawlings, John William

Robinson, Harold E.

Roper, Francis

Roper, Ray and Edna Simonson

Senger, M.D., William

Sharp, William

Simonson, Ruth and Roy

Smith, Mona and Harold

Stryker, Ward

Thompson, Mrs.

Townsend, Capt. Wood F.

Traeber's Store

Vaughn, Robert

Vidmar Jr., Jake Theodore

Vories Family Reunion

Walter, Mrs. Karl

Walters, The Family

Wantram, John

Youngren, Ray

Zents, Clyde and Burnice  

PICTURES  

Marshall Downey

Joseph Even

Flag on Mt. Nebo

Frank S. Hoag, Sr.

Jimmy & Betty Wheeler Hooper

J.F. Keating

Kay Keating

Elnora Lorje

Kathy Luzardo

Bill and Anne Moulton

Hal Murray  

Orville Myers

Corky Outhier

John & Betty Lou Pearson

Ray & Edna Roper

Francis Roper

W.F. Townsend

Ward Stryker

 

 

 

 

DALE ALLEE  

by Gail Pitts

The Pueblo Chieftain 

 

    On warm, summer mornings, Dale and Ila Mae Allee like to have breakfast on the redwood deck off their kitchen, savoring the unobstructed view of Pikes to the north.  

    In the evening, they enjoy the sunset behind Greenhorn Mountain through the living room's picture window.   

    The Allee's 5,500 acre ranch on Waterbarrel Road - near Beulah- is strikingly green this late in June. The prairie paints a carpet in all directions from the ranch house.   

    Allee is one of Pueblo County's staunchest 4-H supporters and this year has been named to its Leader's Hall of Fame.   

    Born at North Avondale in 1929, when his father was working for the Thatcher family, he got his first taste of 4-H when he was nine or 10 years old.   

    "I always showed beef cattle, beef plus horses," he said.   

    Cattle always have been part of his life.   

    His dad moved from the Thatcher holdings to the Livesey ranch, 25,000 acres that "right now are the bottom of Lake Pueblo."   

    Allee spent eight years in a one-room school before attending the old Centennial High in Pueblo.   

    He tried a three-year stint at C.F. & I..   

    "Back in my time, every young guy went to work there," he said.   

    He was making $63 a week in 1957 and thought "I'd be a real success if I made $1,000 a month."   

    But he hated the mill. And he had some cattle of his own on the side.   

    "That graveyard shift was really torture," he recalled.   

    Still, when he quit he missed "the guys I worked with and I missed the paycheck."   

    He went to work for his dad.   

    The family moved to Westcliffe, but lived there only 11 months.   

    The elder Allee had the opportunity for an $87,500 profit on the Westcliffe ranch.   

    Meanwhile, a Texan had bought the Pat Ruddy ranch - once part of the Livesay - but "Hated it and wanted to go back to Texas."   

    That ranch is the Allee's home today.   

    "We have deeds back even before Charles Goodnight, before Gervacio Nolan."   

    Son Dennis and his family live down the road in the homestead house.

    Daughter Donna and her family also live on the ranch. Deana and her family live in Pueblo.   

    Like so many 4-Hers, Allee became "reinvolved" when the three children were young.   

    He was leader of the Beulah Wranglers for 17 years. It's the old Turtle Butte Club, named for the buttes south of the ranch.   

    "We used to show at the State Fair. That was kind of the ultimate."   

    The club covered all 4-H projects, except Home Ec., he said.   

    That's not one of his many talents.   

    "He can zap leftovers," Mrs Allee laughed and waved toward the microwave.   

    But 4-H leader is just the toe in the stirrup for Allee.   

    He's the pool buyer at the Pueblo County Fair livestock sale. The youngsters raise money, $5, $100, $500 at a time from local friends and businesses. The money is pooled. If one pig or steer or lamb doesn't bring a price above market at the auction, Allee jumps in and buys it with the pool money.   

    It guarantees that all the 4-H youngsters will receive a fair return on their animals.   

    "Sometimes you will see me buy a grand champion," he said. "That's not pool money. Somebody's come up to me and said they want to buy so-and-so's animal but they don't want to bid."   

    Allee and former youth agent Bob Clark put together the first County Sale at the State Fairgrounds.   

    "It was a wreck. We had everything except buyers," he said.   

    He recalls that a banker from Minnequa "bought most everything at $5 to $10 over market."   

    "The next year, we got parents and businesses and it was OK."   

    Today, he usually has about $6,000 in pool money for the County Sale.   

    Allee also recalls the first Colorado State Fair Junior Livestock Sale in the Ag Palace. "It rained; water just poured through the roof."   

    Allee has been superintendent of the State Fair Livestock Sale for at least 20 years and chairman of the sale committee.   

    But you won't see him "hanging around" during the sale. Instead, he's everywhere at once.   

    "The real important part of the committee is to take care of snafus. I've got a large committee of really good volunteers."   

    He's looking forward to this year's sale, to be held in the new Events Center. "It ought to add some pizzazz," he said.   

    "I've been hanging around at this thing so I can have one at the Events Center."   

    Allee runs about 200 mother cows on the ranch and worries, like all cowmen, about the price of cattle, down 30 percent from last year.   

    "That's the hard part of it. You have to take what they want to give you, not what you want to get."   

    But prices of the supplies for the ranch, such as 500 gallons of gas a month plus diesel, aren't negotiable.   

    He also still raises a few horses, but isn't anxious to sit astride those bucking colts.   

    He rides an unregistered, year-old quarter horse/paint cro named Izzy.   

    "That's for what is he (izzy)," he laughed.

    

  JIM ARMSTRONG

Jim Armstrong is the epitome of a self-sufficient rancher. He was born in Vineland on January 13, 1918 to Charles Edgar and Edna Pearl Armstrong. Charles Armstrong moved from Michigan to Colorado and homesteaded in the Apache Creek area where he had a dairy route in Pueblo. In 1919 when Jim was only 1 1/2 years old his family moved to Beulah. They bought the North Creek home which was originally built by Steve Service in 1916-17. His father bought beef cattle and hay cutting machines, and they raised cattle and sold feed. Jim has been a bachelor all his life. His explanation is: "I thought I would get married some day, but it just never happened." Jim does all his own work on his cattle ranch and only occasionally hires help during the busy haying season.   

    Jim has always been active in the Beulah community service organizations. He was the first member and president of the Beulah Saddle Club, which started in 1949. He was a member of the Beulah Volunteer Fire Department since its conception. He has been involved in the Beulah EMT ambulance and is currently a member. He has also participated and acted in our Beulah Melodrama.   

    Jim says running his ranch keeps him very busy, but he does have one hobby he enjoys. He is a sportsman and enjoys hunting elk in the Fall.

 

This article was reprinted from the April 1, 1990, Issue 8 of The Beulah Banner.  

REMEMBERING AN 'OLD TIMER'  

by Ron and Cathene Jones  

 

    Jim Armstrong was one of five children raised on the North Creek family ranch. He never married but dedicated his life to ranching, farming and our community. In 1949, the Beulah Valley Saddle Club was formed and Jim became the first president of the club. He remained active in the saddle Club for many years and was president several different times.   

    During the early '50's Jim was a Boy Scout Leader. He enjoyed taking the Scouts on overnight camping trips and packing with horses. One of Jim's most favorite activities was going elk hunting every Fall with his hunting group. Taking his horse to ride and pack and "roughing it" miles from civilization was a part of his life that he truly treasured. Jim was also one of the original cast members of the annual Beulah melodrama. He loved playing or acting the many different parts over several years. One he particularly enjoyed was the role of sheriff.   

    Almost everyone saw Jim at one time or another haying. Many young boys worked for Jim during haying season. Jim paid fair wages but expected a good day's work in return. The hay crews soon learned that the hay had to be stacked a certain way, and that was Jim's way.   

    Being a rancher and farmer very naturally took most of his time. He was a self-educated man and a voracious reader. He became very knowledgeable about grasses and weeds and an expert in our area. Jim ran a cow-calf operation and enjoyed raising baby calves and liked branding the old fashioned way. Several young men helped during every branding time and just like haying, it had to be done a certain way and that was Jim's way.   

    Jim was also an active EMT in Beulah for many years and still responded to calls up until about a year before he died. It has been nearly two years since Jim Armstrong passed away. With his slow drawl and sense of humor he was a very interesting person to visit with. Many Beulah residents remember this colorful character with deep appreciation and love. He gave so much of himself to our community through the years and left a nice little gift of money to Beulah Community Center and the Beulah Volunteer Fire Department.   

    The Beulah Community Center is planning a memorial dedicaton to him on Sunday, May 7, 1995. We will be drawing a lucky name to win a beautiful quilt that was made and donated by our Beulah Quilters. So everyone come and join in our celebration and Ice Cream Social.

 

Reprinted from the April, 1995 issue of the Beulah Valley Word.  

 

Frank D. Clarke

The Man Who Was Scalped and Lived Here in Beulah

  

    Frank was the father of two sons, Raymond Clarke of Beulah and Fred Clarke of Kokomo, Colorado; two daughters, Mrs. Lillian Fauntleroy and Mrs. Lorena Adams of Beulah. He also had two step-sons, Henry and Fred Boggs. His grandchildren included, among others, Shirley McGee, Martha Benesch, Wanda and Radell, Norman and Darrell Clarke of Beulah.  

    Frank was orphaned at an early age and had no recollection of his parents. Actual facts concerning his first years are obscure. His parents are believed to have fallen victims to an Indian massacre in the days when the white man first ventured into Montana. His parents, according to information Clarke picked up in later years, were members of a wagon train party which was practically wiped out by an Indian attack.  

    Clarke's first recollections were of a life at Ft. Benton, Montana, an outpost on the northwest frontier in the days of early Indian wars, where he lived with an uncle, Jim Hughes, an Indian Scout under General Custer.  

    He experienced a story-book adventure with the Indians. He was sent out from the Montana fort with a mule team. He was attacked by a party of Indians and was wounded by a tomahawk blow on the head. Apparently, the Indians decided to spare his life when they discovered his tender age so he was taken to their camp where a squaw nursed him back to health.  

    How long he was held prisoner was not known even to Clarke, but he said, according to relatives, that it apparently was several weeks. One day, according to his own story, he just walked off and made his way back to Fort Benton.  

    A long scar from the tomahawk blow on top of his head remained with him all his life.  

    After a trip to Leadville, Clarke prospected and mined in various parts of Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. With the outbreak of the Indian Uprising in 1886, he became an Indian scout, serving with General George Crook and Nelson A. Miles in Arizona against Geronimo and Natchez until the Apaches were finally subdued.  

    He returned to Colorado engaging in various building activities and then turned to prospecting. The last 30 years he lived practically continuously at Beulah, where earlier he had spent considerable time.  

    An expert carpenter and cabinet maker, Clarke personally built several of the finest summer homes in the Beulah district. Despite his advanced years, his eyesight and ability remained keen so he could turn out cedar chests and cabinets. His cedar chests of native Colorado Cedar had been sent to many parts of the United States and several had been sent to England.  

    Although he never attended school, he interested himself in many studies. Another accomplishment was that of a violinist. He was fond of and adept at playing many of the old time tunes.  

    He numbered among his personal acquaintances such notorious figures of the old West as General George Armstrong Custer, Kit Carson, Buffalo Bill and Billy the Kid.  

    Death ended his career and he died in his sleep at the home of a daughter, Mrs. Lillian Fauntleroy.

 

 

    

 

MIKE AND LINDA CONLEY  

EMS Profile by Rachael Thompson  

 

    Mike and Linda Conley have been with Beulah EMS for a year and a half. "It was something I always wanted to do. I read about the need for volunteers in  The Beulah Banner , so I called," Mike says strongly. When Linda found out that one more person was needed to hold the First Responder Class, She also joined. Both Mike and Linda work in Pueblo and have lived in Beulah for four years. Mike and Linda attended First Responder and EMT Basic classes at PCC. Their goal is to become IV Certified. "The classes are worthwhile, the instructors are good, and it is a excellent program," says Mike and Linda. "Volunteers are reimbursed and there are some scholarships available if needed." Beulah needs volunteers who are in Beulah during the daytime when other EMTs are at work out of Beulah. "There have been a couple of instances," Linda recalls, "that there was no one available to respond..." Residents of Beulah need to be able to count on help when they need it. This is a great need that only someone in our community can fill. Donations are always welcome and they are 100% tax deductible. Mike and Linda are a part of Beulah EMS because they want to give something back to the community. They don't want thanks or a pat on the back, just to let everyone know that to support Beulah EMS is a gift to every person in Beulah.   

    The Conleys have four daughters, one son, and five grandchildren. Their daughter and twin grandsons, Tyler and Cody, have recently moved to Beulah and will attend Beulah School in the fall. The Conleys are excited about their grandsons attending Beulah School and the benefits that only our community can provide.   

    Beulah EMS will have a booth at the Arts and Crafts fair. Bottled water, Gatorade, and bowls of fresh fruit will be sold as a fundraiser. You can get your blood pressure checked for free, meet some of the volunteers, and learn more about Beulah EMS. For anyone interested in becoming an EMT with Beulah EMS, this is your opportunity to take the first step or ask your first question. According to Mike Conley, the EMT Program is one that any person who tries can get through. "Besides," he declares, "I passed!"  

 

Reprinted from  The Beulah Banner   August, 2003 issue.

LESLIE E. DONLEY  

 

    Leslie E. Donley, well-known dairyman of Pueblo, Pueblo County, Colorado, is owner and operator of the Hillside Dairy, which was established in 1919 by his father and has been in the family since that time. At present the firm, which deals in the retail sale of milk, has 450 registered Holstein cows. The herd is the largest privately owned Holstein herd in Pueblo. In the beginning the business had twenty-five cows, which were milked by hand. Now the complete production and processing operation is done by strictly modern methods, never touched by hand. The delivery in Puebo covers ten routes.   

    Leslie E. Donley was born February 13, 1914, in Pueblo, to Floyd and Lula Glasscoe Donley. His father, born in Beulah, Colorado, in 1888, now lives in Pueblo. His mother was born in Greenfield, Missouri, in 1894. The adobe house in which Leslie Donley's grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Donley lived, still stands on the Donley farm. The grandparents had moved there about 1899, engaging in ranching and dairying.   

    Leslie E. Donley married the former Velma Bartlett, daughter of Clyde and Nellie Andrus Barlett, in Pueblo Baptist Church May 20, 1934. Mr. Bartlett was born in Missouri and passed away in 1959. Mrs. Bartlett was born in Colorado Springs, married Mr. Bartlett in Pueblo November 7, 1912, and makes her home in Pueblo. Mr. and Mrs. Donley are the parents of two sons: David, who married the former Marion Mesojedic; and Richard.   

    Mr. Donley is past secretary of the Colorado Holstein Association and also a board member and a member of the board of directors of the Colorado Dairy Association. He is a member of the Colorado Holstein Association, the Rotary Club, and the Elks. He is a Mason, a member of the Blue Lodge Number 17, a member of the Southern Colorado Consistory and of Al Kaly Shrine. He is also a member of the Minnequa Club and a former board member. Mrs. Donley is chairman of the historical committee of the D.A.R., a member of Rotary Anns. of Eastern Star, and the ladies Consistory. He is a member of the admistrative committee of the Colorado Milk Marketing Order representing producer handler. Mr. Donley's hobbies are model train construction, water skiing and fishing. He is a member of Mesa Presbyterian Church. Mr. Donley is regarded in his community as a progressive businessman interested in efficient operation and the highest standards for his dairy.  

 

 

 

MARSHALL DOWNEY

By Rachael Thompson

(Picture)

 

    "He's a good father, a good husband, and a good man, and a good son," Bessie Downey proudly stated about Marshall Downey, her husband of 63 years, "but don't tell him I said that." Marshall met Bessie when his mother was having a baby and Bessie came to work there to help out. "She baked me my 17th birthday cake," Marshall grinned. "And I guess you can tell by looking at me that she's a pretty good cook." They lived just 60 miles apart in southwesten Kansas before moving to Beulah, but neither one knew it. Marshall built their home here in Beulah from scratch after he retired in 1981. "We moved in on November second, my birthday, and Marshall worked me so hard that he didn't have to take me out to dinner," said Bessie, who was pleased that her husband, who had worked so many years at a desk, could build such a beautiful home.   

    Marshall Downey's grandparents came to Beulah in 1898 after homesteading in Kansas. His grandfather worked most of his life for his family and other people, and was buried here in the Beulah Cemetery. Marshall's dad attended Cedar Grove School, was a dry land farmer and a sharecropper. "We moved around a lot," Marshall remembers, "and in fourth grade I went to five different schools." Marshall also attended Mountain View School on Water Barrel Flats and believes his teacher was named Neeva Shipley in the one room schoolhouse. Marshall attended Pueblo Junior College and later Denver University where he received his BA in Business and then lived in Denver for 30 years. He has worked at C.F.I, and United Airlines, but most of his career was with the Public Service Company as an accountant and auditor before supervising their employee health insurance and later their credit union. Marshall served our country during WWII stationed in the Marshall Islands as an Aviation Metalsmith in the United States Navy.   

    "It took 30 days by covered wagon to get from Kansas to Beulah," remembers Marshall "and I made the trip back and forth twice between 1925 and 1929. Once I camped near the school yard in Lamar, Colorado and corralled my dad's horses on the fenced playground." Marshall has ridden horses from the time he was big enough to sit on one, and has ridden everywhere you can see from the back of the Hogbacks all the way to Pueblo Reservoir and beyond, plus all over the flats and hills east of Highway 78.

    Marshall's love and pride was apparent when speaking of his son, daughter, four grandchildren, five great grandchildren and one great great granddaughter.   

    On being a father, Marshall thought carefully and then said proudly, "I guess I've got a pretty good relationship with my children. They still come to see me for advice."  He then spoke of a time when he and his son were struck by lightening on August 23, 1976. "It was a pack trip back in the mountains north of Pagosa Springs. There were nine men and seventeen head of horses. One man and seven horses were killed. The saddle mule my son was riding was dead and laying on my son's legs. I thought my son was dead, too. When he was clear of the mule, I hit my son in the middle of his shoulder blades as hard as I could. I don't know why I hit him like that. Then he started gasping for air and I knew my son was alive. My son doesn't remember all of this, but I do." Marshall and his son Bill still go horseback riding together. Bill is now the County Commissioner in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Marshall Downey is a good father, a good husband and a good son. He is kind, caring, knowledgeable about his community, portrays high moral values, and enjoys living next to the school yard in Beulah. Happy Father's Day, Marshall!  

This article is reprinted from the June, 2002 issue of The Beulah Banner.

 

WASHINGTON IRVING EVARTS  

 

    This interesting article was received from Roy E. Roper of Canon City. (Remember his Stairway to the Stars). He prepared this for his children and grandchildren and was kind enough to share with us.

  

A Man Named Washington Irving Evarts

 

    The writings of an early American author named Washington Irving must have had a rather favorable influence upon a family named Evarts in 1827. On May 7 of that year they named their newborn son W.I. Evarts - a boy who later became a leading citizen in the small community of Beulah.    

    The Evarts family, of English extraction, lived in Middlesex County, Connecticut. Washington Irving, the author, lived nearby in the New York state area and in 1819 had completed one of his most popular writings, "The Sketch Book", which contained the stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle". It seems likely folks liked the stories, or perhaps also the rhythm of the name Washington Irving.   

    At any rate the story of W.I. Evarts was one of self-reliance and determination to succeed. After education in the common schools of his state he apprenticed in the blacksmith trade at age 16. Born of poor parents, he probably did not have much choice as to a life's work. At age 22 he went to Ohio where he worked in his uncle's blacksmith shop for one year. Then he proceeded to Wisconsin where he assisted in putting together the iron work on the first bridge across the Wisconsin River. He resided there for 12 years, spending several winters in the pine woods where people would come for hundreds of miles for lumber; he often had as high as one hundred ox-teams to shoe in one season. His next home was in Fillmore County, Minnesota where he had a shop for three years. He was  then in Kansas for about 1 1/2 years and moved to Missouri and engaged in business for 11 years. His next move was to Colorado, locating in Beulah, and did blacksmithing for 8 years, having arrived here in 1876.   

    In 1861 he married Hannah Kidder, born in Maine but reared in New York state. It is not known how they came to know each other but one guess is that he had returned to Conn. for a visit after working for a time in Wisconsin and met her there or perhaps in New York. In the years following, Hannah gave birth to eight children, six prior to the move to Colorado and the last two who were born in Beulah.   

    In Beulah he settled on a ranch and set about improving it from the wild land he found. He experienced all the hardships and trials incident to pioneer life and had some adventures with the Indians. His homestead patent #2047 was granted to him in March 1889. The 160 acre homestead was located 1/2 mile west of Beulah on Middle Creek. According to a record left by William Roper he later moved the Evarts blacksmith building to Goodpasture in 1921.        Hannah deserves great credit for her part in improving the farm. She worked as a nurse in Pueblo to earn money to buy stock and pay for many improvements. She was a hard worker, an excellent woman, and highly esteemed by all who knew her.   

    Washington Irving Evarts died in Beulah in 1900 at the age of 72 years. His wife, Hannah, died at Oak Creek, Colorado in 1914. The are both buried in the family plot in the Beulah Cemetery, in the southwest corner. A rather tall square stone monument marks the plot, surrounded by graves of other family members. Many years ago someone planted a white lilac bush there that now dominates the graves. His last 23 years of life were spent in Beulah where their last two children were born.   

    Roy E. Roper is a great-great-grandson of Washington Irving Evarts and wrote this on December 6, 1996. Thank you, Roy.

 

 

 

 

EDWARD AND AGATHA EVEN

by Louise Even

    I wish to share with the Historical members the story of my husband's grandparents, Edward and Agatha Even, as told to me by him and his brother, Robert. (I owe Robert much for the extra effort he put into this article).   

    The lineage of the Even family has been traced back to 1663 by family members residing in Hagen, Germany.  

    Edward W. Even immigrated to the United States from Schwelm, Germany arriving at Ellis Island on September 3, 1881. An older brother, Richard, and sister, Ida, were with him and they arrived in the Pueblo Area in 1882. Why they selected this area in Colorado is not readily known, however, it is believed it was due to ethnic acquaintances or perhaps employment opportunities at Pueblo smelters. During his early years in America, Edward worked at the Pueblo smelter. Later, with his brother, Richard, he farmed and raised cattle in the Belle Plain area, near the present day Pueblo Memorial Airport.   

    Agatha H. Borgman (Edward's bride to be) also came to the United States in 1881, landing July 4th with her mother, Mary Bernadina Borgman Elsing and half sisters, Caroline and Bernadine from Bochum, Germany. Fred Elsing, Agatha's step-father was killed in the Franco-Prussian war. Fred Elsing met the family in New York to bring them to Colorado and his girls didn't recognize him because of his beard.   

    Edward filed for a homestead in 1888 in the Couzzen Springs area northeast of Beulah and he and Agatha were married August 15, 1889 in St. Patricks church in Pueblo. He received his land patent in 1891 for his homestead.   

    The homestead house was a two story structure built of logs and prior to a staircase being built, access to the children's sleeping area was a ladder. Through the years, additions and renovations were made to the house. To this day, it is an inhabitable residence. Edward dug a well, by hand, in the canyon west of the house so water was nearby. They had an apple orchard and stored fruit and vegetables in a stone cellar they had built.   

    They harvested their first corn crop with an Indian hatchet. The corn was 18" tall. Oh, how different from our modern machinery of today. Agatha once related to a granddaughter that during the early years they observed Indians passing through the area, but they never encountered them.   

    I must mention that  Mr. Elsing was struck and killed by lightning while in a pasture north of the Even homestead in the summer of 1904. Agatha found his body.   

    Eleven of Edward and Agatha's twelve children were born at their homestead home. The family consisted of 8 boys and 4 girls: Albert, Anna, Paul, Ida, Helen, Joseph, Henry, Josephine, William, Richard, Bernard and Aloysius. William died in 1923. All others lived most of their lives in Pueblo County and are buried in the Pueblo area. You will remember one especially, Paul. He was the Beulah Rural mail carrier for 36 years, 1923-1959. Widows of sons, Henry (Vera Bussey) and Aloysius (Phyllis Bornshein) reside in Pueblo.   

    The children received minimum educaton due to the necessity of making a living. It was told when the three oldest children enrolled at the Couzzen Springs School they could not speak English.   

    The original Couzzen Springs School was on the Hall farm, adjacent to the Even property.

    The boys worked for board and room and the girls worked as servants for prominent Pueblo families or at the Colorado Laundry.   

    Agatha recalled her husband served on the first grand jury in Pueblo in 1920.   

    Among the memories held dear was the fact that Agatha always had a pot of coffee simmering on the back of the old wood stove just waiting for whomever might arrive. Also the Christmas celebrations were wonderful as all grandchildren were to recite school parts for all present, and there were popcorn strings and candles burned on the tree. Even during the leanest years, Agatha had Christmas gifts for her chidren, their spouses and her grandchildren. Herbert especially remembers the Easter Egg Hunts in the canyon when older children would help the younger ones.

    Agatha was widowed in 1926 and faced the challenge of raising her younger children alone and keeping the Even Ranch intact, which she did very adequately as her children rallied around her.   

    In 1949, she was named "Olders Pioneer Cowgirl of the year" by the Pueblo Saddle Club at their annual Saddle Club Ball in February.   

    The land holdings acquired by the Evens through the years are, to this day, retained in the Even family by the children of son, Joe.   

    Agatha died in 1960 at the age of 90. She was survived by 8 children, 21 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.  

 

 

JOSEPH EVEN  

by Raechel Thompson

    Joseph Even's father, Edward W. Even came to America and settled in Pueblo in the early 1880's. He then homsteaded a place in the Couzzins Spring area where his family farmed and raised Herefords. Joseph Even was one of twelve children born to Edward and Agatha Even. Joseph was born March 14, 1900 and died August 14, 1977 after living seventy-seven years on his land. The Even farm was established October 5, 1888 and covered 1600 acres.

    Joseph and his brothers and sisters went to a one-room school, Couzzins Springs School, which was on a neighbor's property close by. He attended school here through seventh grade when Joseph's father needed him to work on the farm. Joseph quit school to help his father.   

    Joseph was the Pueblo County winner of the Century Farm Family Contest. George Scott, manager of the Colorado State Fair said of the Even family, "We are most pleased to be able to honor a family which has played a significant role in the agricultural process of Colorado for more than a century. Through the hard work of all families honored, Colorado was helped to become one of the major agricultural states in the nation."   

    During the Dust Bowl, times were hard for the Even family. Food and clothing were scarce and Joseph got a job on WPA where he did road work, sawed timber, and hauled dirt in a wheelbarrow for fill around bridges. Joseph worked hard for his family and for the land that would be his children's someday.   

    Joseph purchased his livestock brand in 1926. Other than ranching and farming, Joseph sometimes supplemented the family income working in the clay mines. Canaries were used to detect poisonous gases in the mine. Joseph had a strong work ethic that his children are proud of. They remember him almost never stopping to rest and that was when he was in his sixties.   

    Joseph married Josephine Hanratty in 1927. They had five children, three girls; Lillian, Vivian, and Theresa, and two boys, Everett and James. One child, James Frances, died from pneumonia at three months of age.   

    Everett Even remembers that his father, Joseph, was a water boy for a steam tractor that ran a threshing machine when he was twelve years old. He lovingly recalls that he and his father hauled coal from the Florence coal yards with a team and wagon. They slept in sheds and under bridges during the trips. "I've never known anyone who disliked my dad, and he never had a bad word to say about anyone, something we could all live by today. We loved him dearly."

  

This article was reprinted from the November, 2002 issue of The Beulah Banner.   

 

The Flag and Mt. Nebo

(Now called by many "Flag Mountain")

(Picture)  

    The history of the "Flag" on Mt. Nebo began in the year 1934. It was that summer when the Frank Holloran family moved into their summer home next door to the George Broome family.  

    From the large summer porches of Broome's "Grand View" and Holloran's "Lone Pine" could be seen the peak of Mt. Nebo on the opposite side of Middle Creek Canyon. This peak was the challenge of three sons - Tom Broome (age 6), Fred Holloran (age 8), and Joe Holloran (age 10). To prove their scaling accomplishment, they took with them a stick to which had been nailed a sheet rag that they could wave to their families below and then jam into the crevice between the rocks at the peak to serve as a flag.  

    With the exception of one or two years, a new American Flag furnished by the Hollorans has flown atop Mt. Nebo, with this year's installation (approximately the 40th year) made by Pat and Stacy Holloran, the two youngest grandchildren.  

    Several Mt. Nebo climbs had to be made each summer as the winds would blow the flag down or other children in the valley would attempt to "Capture the flag" made of white sheet, Maggie's drawers, or whatever else was available.  

    About 1938, the boys began to use the genuine "Stars and Stripes" that was furnished by their parents. The game of "Capture the Flag" automatically stopped as the other kids in the Valley showed their respect for the American Flag.

    As each boy was called into Military Service, the remaining two, then one, took care of the flag. When they were gone, the school children of Beulah replaced the flag one year and the Boy Scouts of Beulah another year.  

    In 1946 after World War II, Tom Broome, Lila Ruth and Pauline Bland, and Fred and Joe Holloran carried cement up the mountain in 10 pound lard pails to cement-in an iron flag pole (actually an old plumbing turnkey that had been obtained from Tom Clarke, owner of the Village Blacksmith Shop). The initials of the concrete bearers can still be plainly seen in the concrete atop the mountain.  

    This flag pole sufficed until bent and broken in 1960, when Holloran grandchildren, Tom and Dick Holloran, then carried a new pole and cement to the top for a replacement.  

    With our 100th year celebration approaching, it is interesting to note that for several years the Broomes, Hollorans and Blands pooled their 4th of July fireworks and fired them from the peak. Their shows were completed with a sparkler parade down the trail. The dry years and concern of a forest fire brought the practice to a halt.  

    Visitors to the peak experience a breathtaking panoramic view of the lush green Beulah Valley below. From it's lofty, yet easily accessible height, one can see mountain homes up North Creek, Spring Creek, and South Pine Drive.

    It was probably the Valley view that inspired the early settlers to give the mountain its name after the true story of "Mt. Nebo in the Land of Moab" as recorded in Deut. 32:48-52 of the Holy Bible. Mt. Nebo truly overlooks a beautiful valley of promise, opportunity and love.  

    You haven't seen Beulah until you've visited the "Flag on Mt. Nebo". The trail starts right at the Middle Creek bridge near the "Mikado".  

    And as in the beginning, the Frank Hollorans still watch the flag from their front porch and the boys now with their families in their own summer homes.  

    (Orginally printed in the Beulah News Magazine on June 20, 1976, this article was copied and donated by Joe and Dorothy Holloran. Their grandchildren now enjoy hiking up the mountain when they come to visit and the Cernoia family who presently live in the Mikado help put up the flag now.)

    During a recent hike on April 20th, 1996, to the top of Mt. Nebo, affectionately called Flag Mountain, members of the Beulah Historical Society and local residents replaced the weather shredded flag with one donated by Kay Keating. Prior to the hike a reading of a certification stated that "the accompanying flag was flown over the United States Capitol on November 22, 1991, at the request of the Honorable Matthew G. Martinez, Member of Congress. This flag was flown for Captain Katherine Keating." The day of the hike was cool with an overcast sky but the attitudes of the hikers were jovial and friendly. While on top hikers took time to observe the beginning of the spring greening and a small fire on Pine Drive. Those in attendance were: John, Angela, Joe & Jonelle Murgel, Patti Genack, Peter Schuyler, Laura Amman, Joe & Fred Holloran, Amy Arnold, Linda Amman Gradisar, Marshall Downey, George Dwight, Claudia & Jimmy Fountain and Orville Myers.  

 

The above story appeared in the Beulah Valley Word, May, 1996.

Henry Thomas Galbreath Builds 1st Cabin in Beulah  

    Mr. Galbreath was born in Andrain County, Missouri, December  31, 1842, where he resided until he was seventeen years of age. He attended such schools as the country afforded during his boyhood. In 1860 he came to Colorado. The following year he was engaged in teaming between the Missouri River and points west and hauling lumber from the forest to Denver. In January of 1862 Mr. Galbreath went to Omaha where he remained but a short time before he proceeded to Missouri. In July following he returned to the mountains but his stay was short as he went to Fort Wise (now Ft. Lyon) in the Arkansas Valley in August of the same year where he was engaged in hauling hay for the government for a season. Immediately afterward, he was employed on a ranch belonging to a Mr. Haynes until the spring of 1863. At this time he made his first purchase of cattle, which consisted of 10 head of yearling steers. The following few months he was engaged in freighting, having taken a load of government goods from Denver to Ft. Garland. He then proceeded to Ft. Lyon and again furnished hay for the government. After concluding his contract he went to Cherry Creek near Denver and remained until February when he returned to the Arkansas Valley and commenced herding cattle for William Innis. He moved the stock to Mace's Hole, remaining with them until November. During the summer he built the first cabin ever constructed in that place. He did not winter there, but drove his herd down the Arkansas Valley to a point east of Pueblo, where he remained until the spring of 1865 when he returned to Mace's Hole in the employ of N.W. Cresswell. In the following July he drove the herd to Ft. Sumner, New Mexico and sold them to the government to feed the Navajo Indians. From this point Mr. Galbreath walked to Denver where he took passage aboard a mule train for his old home in Missouri, from which he had been absent six years. In the spring of 1866 he bought 70 head of one and two year old cattle and brought them to the Arkansas Valley, west of Pueblo.

    He was also employed by C.D. Peck in herding cattle on a little creek that empties into the Arkansas river which is known as Tom's Creek having been named for one of Mr. Galbreath's given names. In February of 1868 he sold his cattle to L. Haden and returned to Missouri, remaining until May. Again he found his way to Colorado. On the road he purchased 124 head of cattle of Mr. S. M. Hayes of Council Grove, Kansas. The herd was in the Arkansas Valley where he kept them until the spring of 1869 when he traded them to Tom Patterson, a well known Texas drover, for a herd of steers and then went to Missouri. In June 1869 Mr. Galbreath was married to Miss Virginia Switzer. He now (1881) resides in Catlin, Bent County, Colorado, engaged in stock raising.  

 

From History of The Arkansas Valley. Published in 1881      Lib.#978.8      

GOODPASTURE BLACKSMITH SHOP AND FORD MECHANICS

1914- 1938  

    Eddie and William were the sons of Francis and Adeline Roper, arriving in Beulah in 1885. Eddie was three years old and William just a baby at that time. Their father was a Methodist minister and teacher in and outside of the valley.

    At adulthood, Eddie moved to Rye and learned the blacksmith trade, met Louisa Hardin and married in 1904. He opened a blacksmith shop in Beulah in 1911, but the disastrous fire of 1912 burned several buildings and his was one of them.  His next move was to Goodpasture where he and his brother William opened another shop doing both blacksmithing and Ford auto mechanics from 1915-1938.  William's father-in-law, William Opp, became an associate with them also. He lived on the east wing of the building. Louisa died very early with pneumonia; they had no children. Ed married again late in life to Marie Boone who had three daughters. They lived at the Wales Canon area until retirement. William had two sons, Melvin and Roy, who are still owners of The Early Homesteads (1992).

FIRST GOODPASTURE POST OFFICE - 1895

WALES CANON AREA  

    According to the National Archives, the first post office at Goodpasture, Pueblo County, was established in 1895, John H. Murphy appointed postmaster. William F. Goodpasture, postmaster in Beulah at that time, petitioned for this proposed office to be called Goodpasture. This new office was located six miles north-east of Beulah on the Siloam Road, referred to as the Wales Canon locality. Homesteaders settled on both sides of dry canon westwardly towards the ridges overlooking Beulah Valley. The old map somewhat designates some of the landmarks in relation to the post office there, which eventually burned in the early 1900's. (Recalled by Edna Simonson now deceased.) Lee R. Roper was the second and last postmaster appointed in 1899 at a new location, eventually becoming the Goodpasture Community Center. He held this appointment for 25 years until closing in 1924.  

 

    About 1900 a Post Office was authorized at Goodpasture with Lee Roper as Postmaster. Later his son Wilbur Roper served as Postmaster. The Goodpasture Post Office served the surrounding ranches, and also had a route to Couzzen Springs to the north, and another which went south to the 3-R Ranch and east to the Sitton Post Office near Burnt Mill. These routes were operated only a short time.   

    In 1922 Wilber Roper circulated a petition requesting a Rural Free Delivery Route to start at Goodpasture and go via Beulah, the 3 R-Ranch, Burnt Mill, Couzzen Springs and back to Goodpasture. This request was granted, but the starting place was soon changed to Beulah.   

    Andy Anderson was appointed temporary carrier until a Civil Service Examination was held and William Middleton received the appointment, but was soon relieved of his duties and Wilbur Roper was appointed temporary carrier. Paul Even received the next appointment and served from July 1, 1923 until retiring January 1, 1949. Ray Traeber was appointed next and is still serving.

"MACES HOLE"

CLEMENT F. HAUSMAN  

    Clement F. Hausman, co-owner of Treasure Chest Homes, Inc., in partnership with Ralph Tack, and president of Treasure Chest Realty, Inc., is engaged in the real estate business, selling residential, commercial, farm, and ranch properties. Treasure Chest Homes has built 1500 houses in the Pueblo area of which 1200 are in the Highland Park section. The offices are at 255 West Abriendo Street in Pueblo, Pueblo County, Colorado. Mr. Hausman established Treasure Chest Realty, Inc., in 1949 and Treasure Chest Homes, Inc. in January 1952. He became a real estate salesman in 1947.   

    Clement F. Hausman was born to Mr. and Mrs. Edward Hausman at Trinidad, Colorado, on January 16, 1923. His father was a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He was associated with the Hausman Drug Company in Trinidad, which was established in 1895. Clement F. Hausman's mother, Miss Mary Ellen Fenton before her marriage to Edward Hausman in Pueblo on April 29, 1919, was born in Lorenzo, Illinois. In 1895 the Hausmans established the Hausman Drugs in Pueblo. In 1935 Mr. Edward Hausman passed away. Clement F. Hausman was educated in Trinidad and Pueblo, Colorado. He was a member of the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, serving for four and a half years in the Pacific as pilot on a B-24.   

    Mr. Hausman married Miss Marjorie Crews, of Pueblo, Colorado, daughter of Floyd H. and Jessie Ashmore Crews. Mr. and Mrs. Hausman have eleven children: Mary Marjorie, Jane Ann, Clement Michael, Barbara Louise, Patricia Jean, Elizabeth J., James F., Katherine C., Thomas E., Julie Ellen and Marie.   

    Mr. Hausman is on the advisory committee of the National Home Mortgage Credit Program. He is an honorary life member of the board of directors of the National Association of Home Builders. He is also on the executive committee of the national association and chairman of Senior Citizens Housing Committee. He was appointed to the President's 21-Man Senior Citizens Advisory Committee for a second time. This committee advises the President and Housing and Home Finance Agencies on all matters related to housing of the elderly members of our population. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Knife and Fork Club, national, state, and local Board of Realtors, Home Builders Association, and the Country Club. He is a Catholic. Mr. Hausman is eminently suited for a career in the real estate business and has been very successful in his chosen field and also as a civic figure and a developer of the area.

  FRANK S. HOAG SR., 1918

(Picture)

 

    Pueblo Star -Journal Publisher Frank Stephen Hoag, born in Minerva, Ohio, in 1871, moved to Colorado Springs with his wife, Louise, in 1901.  Doctors recommended Colorado's dry climate as a cure for her tuberculosis.   

    Hoag sold ads for a time for the Colorado Springs Gazette before taking a similar post with the Star-Journal some time in 1903.   

    He became general manager in 1904 under principal stockholder and general manager John Vail with the understanding that Hoag would be allowed to buy the newspaper as soon as he could raise the money.   

    That happened in 1918, the same year Hoag was appointed by the governor as manager of the State Board of Corrections. In that post, he was a strong voice for winning state funding for the Colorado State Hospital and prison projects in Southern Colorado.   

    In 1922, he and others convinced the state to expand the hospital  (then called an insane asylum) to include "farms" where patients and inmates could work, raising revenue for the hospital and offsetting costs to the state.

    Hoag bought  The Pueblo Chieftain in 1933 from former U.S. Senator Alva B. Adams.  

 

 

FRANK STEPHEN HOAG, JR.  

    Frank Stephen Hoag, Jr., is publisher of the "Star-Journal" and "Chieftain" in Pueblo, and president of the Star Broadcasting Company whose station is KCSJ. Mr. Hoag's career has in common with the success story of a number of eminent newsmen the fact that he started as a reporter on the staff of the same paper which now he publishes.   

    His rise in the journalistic field has been rapid, for Mr. Hoag is a young man to hold a top-ranking post in newspublishing. He was born June 11, 1908, in Pueblo, son of Frank S. and Louise M. Hoag, his father being president of the Star-Journal Publishing Corporation. After completing his secondary education at Centennial High School, Frank Hoag, Jr., attended Colorado College from 1926 to 1928, and continued his advanced training at Princeton University, where he recieved his degree in Bachelor of Arts in 1931. He was made Washington correspondent and reporter for this paper and for the Pueblo "Chieftain" in 1934, filling this post for two years. He was assistant publisher of these two papers for a decade, beginning in 1937, and in 1947 was made their publisher. Since 1945, he has also been president of the Star Broadcasting company, Inc. This concern reaches a vast listening audience throughout the Intermountain area through the medium of station KCSJ in Pueblo.   

    Mr. Hoag is active in civic and fraternal affairs. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of the Pueblo Golf and Country Club and the Knife and Fork Club. He holds, or has held, official posts in several organizations, being past president of the Pueblo Rotary Club and of the Chamber of Commerce, Community Chest, and president of the Pueblo Junior College District Committee. He was vice president of the Colorado State Chamber of Commerce during 1947 and 1948, and is a member of the Colorado Publicity and Advertising committee. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.   

    In Washington D.C., June 13, 1935, Frank Hoag, Jr., married Le Vert Wiess, daughter of Charles Raymond and Edwina (Edens) Wiess.  

 

Betty Wheeler Hooper

A Trip Down Nostalgia Lane

by Jo Anne King

(Picture)  

    It was my very great pleasure this week to interview a wonderful lady I first met in 1951 when I was a young teenager living with my family on Pine Drive across from the grocery store. Neither the store nor the house we lived in are there anymore, but Betty Wheeler Hooper still lives in the same charming house she did 'way back then'. Like many of the community's children I had made my trips to her house for first aid treatment and was very grateful for her compassion towards me.  

    Betty Hooper was born Betty Marie Richardson on December 18, 1919 in Silver Cliff, Colorado. When she was six years old she contracted rheumatic fever and was confined to bed for a year. She and her family then moved to Fowler hoping her health would improve, which it did. In 1938 she graduated from high school in Fowler, then studied nursing at Corwin Hospital in Pueblo, graduating from there in 1941. She says that initially she hoped to work on a newspaper, but all that changed when, as a senior in nursing school, she met Howard Wheeler, who was a pharmacist. In 1942 Betty and Howard were married by the Methodist Church minister in Howard's parents' home in Avondale.  

    Their son Bill was born in 1943. They then moved to Beulah to begin raising chinchillas. However, that was when the U.S. raised the embargo on Russia, so the bottom dropped out of the fur market. Howard then went to work in the Engineering Department of C.F. & I. In 1948 their daughter Martha was born. She is now the assistant Principal at Rye High School.  

    After 43 years of marriage Howard Wheeler died in 1983. Two years ago, after 16 years of living as a widow, Betty Wheeler married Jimmie Hooper, himself a widower of seven years. Jimmie had been married 52 years and has two children. Betty & Jimmie were married in the Beulah Methodist Church where Betty has been a member since moving to Beulah.  

    Betty's eyes glowed as she shared with me about the wonderful holidays she and her large extended family of kids, grandkids, and one great-grandchild have in the home in Beulah. Thanksgiving time is shared with about 40 relatives who bring in a delicious assortment of their favorite foods to load down the long tables that are brought in. On the fourth of July about 70 people show up and begin a day-long celebration. Traditionally, the shooting off of their homemade cannon that was built by Howard Wheeler's father signals the beginning and the ending of the festivities (and there might be a few times in between, too.) Sadly, Betty's mom will not be with them this year as she died last year at the age of 101.  

    Betty also remembers the fun everyone had at the old Gay Way dance hall which was in the back of what will soon be opening up as Flag Mountain Grill. Whole families went there on Saturday night for what was usually harmless fun, although often some had a little to much to drink and had to be taken home by friends. (Designated drivers were around then, too.)  

    Another of Betty's favorite memories is of her daughter Martha's third year in high school when they had an exchange student from Sweden. Inger became Martha's very good friend during the year she lived with them. She is still a very good friend of the family, and comes here every two years to visit them when she is able to get away from her dental research projects. When Betty's husband Howard died she went to Sweden to spend 9 days with Inger.

    When Betty's children were young she did a variety of sewing projects as a hobby, but now she spends a lot of time traveling with her new husband Jimmy, who openly adores her. They will be traveling to Arlington, Texas soon to attend the dedication ceremony of a park there that will be named for Jimmy and his late wife Mary in gratitude for so much community work they did there in years past.  

    Betty's glowing comments to me about how blessed she feels to have lived in Beulah, and how it is such a wonderful place to raise children, are a clear reflection of her positive attitude about life in general. In return, may I say that this community has been truly honored to have such a loving, giving precious lady in it all these years.

 

The above story appeared in June, 2000 issue of The Beulah Banner.  

Francis Leroy Hughlitt  

    Although Francis L. Hughlitt, of Pueblo, cannot be called a pioneer of Colorado, he assuredly is a tried and trusted veteran of certain features of its life. He was born at Hannibal, Missouri, in August, 1871, and educated in his birthplace and county.  

    After engaging in general ranching until he became of age, Mr. Hughlitt went to the Cripple Creek section of Colorado, where he operated hoisting machinery in the mines, and was frequently a leader in community affairs at both Cripple Creek and Victor. There followed several years' service as under-sheriff and four years as water superintendent, and membership on the Victor town council. In 1921, he came to Pueblo where he accepted the position of chief engineer at the Colorado State Hospital, an institution where he had been employed as a boy and with the operations of which he was thoroughly familiar. He now is the oldest employee of the Hospital in point of identification with it. He has witnessed its growth to tremendous proportions and to that development has contributed in important ways. Few men are more highly respected or more sincerely beloved by all of the host of people who know him and have had pleasant contacts with him. At the age of three-quarters of a century he remains active, always on his job, ever showing a spirit that might well be acquired by much younger men.  

    Like many another man whose abilities and experience have been along mechanical lines, Mr. Hughlitt is exceptionally fond of horticulture and is widely known as an expert grower of peonies. According to Greek mythology, Apollo used this flower to cure the wounds of the Gods; Mr. Hughlitt believes that the growing of these favorite blooms of his can heal many a human ailment and prolong active lives. It is reputed that he breeds and raises more peonies than any other individual in Colorado. He likewise shares with his wife a keen interest in the annals of the state, more especially the records and tales of Pueblo. Mrs. Hughlitt has collected a large amount of note-worthy material on the history of Pueblo, particularly that associated with Beulah and the southwestern part of the county. Mr. Hughlitt is a member of the Pueblo Engineering Society, and is fraternally affiliated with Silver State Lodge, no. 95, Free and Accepted Masons; the chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and the commandery, Knights Templar of Cripple Creek; Southern Colorado Consistory, No. 3, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite at Pueblo, and Rose Croix. He attends the Methodist Episcopal Church of Beulah. Outdoor recreations include fishing and hunting.  

    Francis L. Hughlitt married Anna J. Burns of Pueblo, daughter of John J. and Amanda Burns, both natives of Kansas, and both now deceased, who were among the early pioneers of Beulah, Pueblo County. Mr. and Mrs. Hughlitt are the parents of two daughters: 1. Dorothy, who married George Bailey, and is the mother of two children: i, George, who served in the United States Navy, World War II., ii June, born in 1921. 2. Josephine, who married Charles Willour, and they have three children: Charlotte Beth, Barbara Ann, and Charles, Jr.  

 

 

SYLVESTER SMITH HUGHLITT  

    In the animal industry of Pueblo County, Sylvester Smith Hughlitt plays a prominent part. From childhood he has grown up with the southwestern section of this country, learning ranching in its changing phases during the past forty years and going on to become an outstanding figure in his field of operations. He is a native of Argentine, Kansas, born June 12, 1880, son of Hannibal Tabor and Mary N. (Paul) Hughlitt. His paternal grandfather was one of the pioneer railroad contractors who constructed the Hannibal and St. Joe Railroad in Missouri, and it is related of him that he brought the first iron safe across the Great Plains to Beulah. On the maternal side, his mother, a native of Washington, D.C., came to Colorado when she was seventeen years old and grew up with the country, living to the age of ninety-one years, death coming in February, 1946, as the result of an accident.   

    The father of Sylvester Smith Hughlett engaged in the livery and freight business in Pueblo County and maintained a ranch near Beulah, where his son was brought as a child of three years. The elder man died before he reached the prime of life, and the boy early learned to work and do things about a ranch that were men's jobs. He rode the range until the United States entered the first World War, when he enlisted in the Armed Forces of our country and served with the 89th Division, holding the rank of first lieutenant from 1917 to 1919.   

    Upon his return to civilian life, Mr. Hughlitt ranched for a few years, but in 1922, went with the Colorado State Hospital in Pueblo as farm director. At that time this institution had a small acreage with less than half a hundred head of cattle and small production. Down through the years that have followed, he has systematically and scientifically developed the farm to the height where the hospital herd is one of the finest herds of registered Holsteins in the Intermountain West, some seven hundred head of which about a half are milked. He supervises the growing of some two hundred and fifty acres of truck crops, all of which are used in the hospital, and annually keeps a flock of ten thousand pullets and hens in addition to about a thousand swine. It is animal industry on a big scale. Although the hospital grows about a thousand tons of ensilage each year, this furnished about a part of the feed required by the hospital's animals and poultry. Something on the magnitude of his enterprise is indicated by the fact that while the hospital slaughters about three tons of hogs weekly, they supply but one meal to the inmates of the state hospital.   

    Following a lifelong policy of keeping in touch with men and organizations in his field of interest, Mr. Hughlitt is a member of several groups of colleagues, local, state and national. He exhibits his stock at various cattle shows, county and state, and is an active member of the Pueblo County Soil Conservation Committee. Incidentally he is an enthusiastic advocate of canning. He is in charge of the cannery on the Hospital Farm to take care of any vegetable surplus, and it is of note that the hospital maintains a mill where he is in charge of grinding grains and makes his own long tested feed mixtures.   

    Fraternally Mr. Hughlitt is affliated with Pueblo Lodge, No. 17, Free and Accepted Masons, and Pueblo Lodge, No. 90, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Keeping alive World War I memories, he is a member of the American Legion, a former commander of the Colorado State Society of the 89th Division. Fond of the out-of-doors, his favorite recreations are fishing and hunting.   

    On August 22, 1921, Sylvester Smith Hughlitt married Pearl Brammer, of Ohio, and they are the parents of a daughter, Joan Irma, born March 31, 1933.  

 

 

WALTER K. HURD  

    Long recognized as one of southern Colorado's successful business men, Walter K. Hurd has distinguished himself in Pueblo as one of the state's outstanding citizens. For years his activities have been centered in automobile dealership, in which he has achieved sales records that it would be hard to surpass, let alone equal. His ingenuity has led him into many types of business enterprise, and often he has used adversity to produce greater progress.   

    Mr. Hurd was born March 23, 1882, in Adair County, Iowa, son of James S. and Annetta (Sears) Hurd, both of whom are now deceased. His father served for four years in the Union Army during the Civil War. His parents were married in 1866, at the close of the conflict.   

    Walter K. Hurd attended public schools in Adair County, Iowa, in the vicinity of his birthplace, and also studied in schools at Florence, Colorado. In Florence he went into the hardware business, in which he continued for some years. In 1906 he turned to the newly rising automobile business, becoming a dealer in Maxwell cars in Florence. In 1907 he took the Ford dealership there. Building up a fine business in that community, he sold more Fords at that time in Florence than were being sold in Denver. In 1912 he was offered, and accepted, the Pueblo Ford agency. When he took it over there were forty Ford automobiles in all Pueblo. In the first year in which he was in business he sold one hundred. In the period that followed he increased the business to such an extent that he was at length selling two hundred cars per month - a figure representing nearly sixty per cent of all the cars sold in the entire region.   

    In 1917 Mr. Hurd sold his Florence business, then disposed of the Pueblo Ford Agency in September, 1939. In May, 1940, he took over the Pontiac distributorship in southern Colorado and New Mexico, carrying on the work while at the same time he operated a retail establishment. When he took the Pontiac agency, it was obtaining three per cent of the business of the city. In his first year, 1941, he built up Pontiac sales to a point at which the agency was getting twenty-three percent of total Pueblo sales. Since he entered the industry, Mr. Hurd has been one of the outstanding men in it in Colorado. While World War II curtailed ordinary automobile sales, or practically eliminated them, Mr. Hurd converted a large portion of his shop into a huge roller skating rink, which was highly successful. In 1932 he organized the Sunrise Oil company, of which he became owner and president. This company acts as distributing agent for Socony-Vacuum products. In 1940 he added still another enterprise to his others, becoming dealer in this region for "Phillip 66" propane and butane products. He also is interested in the distribution of Sherwin-Williams Paint in southern Colorado.   

     From an early period Mr. Hurd has concerned himself with modern advertising and business techniques and has created many of his own and mastered those of others. In 1907 he sold the first car "on time," doing so against the advice of  contemporary sages of commerce and finance. He had no prepared forms for effecting such a transaction, so used the form nearest to hand - one already in use on steel ranges, which he had used in his hardware business. This form still is the one used by most large automobile finance companies in the region. In 1916 he was one of the men who organized the Commercial Investment Company in Denver, an enterprise that proved very profitable. In 1921 he started his own finance company. In Pueblo he founded in that year the Western Acceptance Corporation, which he operated successfully from that time onward. Soon afterward he sold the Commercial Investment Company to the Commercial Investment Trust Corporation of New York. For years he was a partner in the O'Meara Motor Company in Denver. He owns considerable real estate in Pueblo, as well as a beautiful summer home in Beulah, Colorado. On his estate he has deer, wild turkeys, blooded sheep and other livestock.   

    In addition to his other activities, Mr. Hurd is a past vice president and a director of the Rocky Mountain Automobile Trades' Association. He is vice president of Colorado Automobile Dealers, a member of the Pueblo Automobile Dealers' Association, the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce, the N.A.D.A., the Commerce Club, the Knife and Fork Club and other groups.   

    Walter K. Hurd married Evelyn Rive Bemen, of Pueblo, Colorado. They became the parents of three children; 1. Cora Ann. 2. Susan. 3. A son, Louis, who was killed on Okinawa on May 10, 1945

 

A CENTURY OF FORD  

reprinted from the Pueblo Chieftian, Aug. 5, 2003

 

    Interestingly enough, Pueblo has played host to a Ford dealership for nearly as long as the company has been in existance.   

    W.K. Hurd was the first to establish a Ford dealership in Steel City.  In 1910, Southern Colorado was introduced to the world of Fords when local entrepreneur Walter Kirk Hurd, a transplant from Iowa, began selling the vehicles out of a small hardware store in Florence.   

    In many ways, the work ethic and determinatio of Hurd mirrored that of Ford, who was so impressed with Hurd's salesmanship that he personally visited Southern Colorado to congratulate the young man for his contributions to the company.   

    According to Hurd's daughter, local real estate businesswoman Susan McCarthy, her father came to Colorado as a young man. Settling in Florence, Hurd married a local woman who happened to run a hardware store. Putting his business acumen to work, Hurd used the storefront to sell Fords, which at the time were taking the country by storm.

    Despite the lack of a traditional automotive dealership, Hurd "sold more Fords out of that little hardware store than any other place in the U.S.," McCarthy said. So impressed was Henry Ford that he ventured west to meet with Hurd at the Florence hardware shop.   

    Ford had so much faith in Hurd's salesmanship and business sense that he made an offer that was hard to refuse. "He told my father, 'I want to go in business with you. I will set you up anywhere in Colorado,'" McCarthy said.   

    At that time, it was expected that Pueblo was going to be the state's capital so Hurd selected Steel City as the base of his new dealership. So in 1912, the Arkansas Valley Motor Company - Pueblo's first actual Ford dealership - opened its doors at 7th and Court.   

    With more space and an actual showroom to display his wares, Hurd's business soared. As more and more customers sought out Fort automobiles, it soon became clear to Hurd that if finanicng was available, even more people would be able to drive his vehicles.   

    "At that time banks wouldn't finance cars because they were 'mobile,' " said McCarthy. "So my father decided to finance them himself."   

    Hurd did this be establishing the Western Acceptance Corporation. And once again, his golden business touch worked its magic as Hurd became the first man in the country to sell an automobile on time payments - now the most accepted method of purchasing a new or used car.   

    Before long, Hurd began financing automobiles for other dealers, including several in New Mexico. In the Land of Enchantment, Hurd became a pioneer of sorts by financing cars for those who lived on reservations.   

    While on a business run in New Mexico, Hurd discovered that many residents were using using propane to provide energy and heat. not one to miss out on an opportunity, Hurd brought the Flying Red Horse mobile propane distrbutor into Colorado and established the Sunrise Oil Company.   

    Despite his various auxiliary businesses, Hurd continued to run his Ford dealership and was actively involved in sales.   

    Sometime in the 1950's, though, Hurd and Henry Ford had a falling out of sorts, leading Hurd to abandon the Ford mantle and initiate a Pontiac dealership.   

    "I don't really recall what happened between the two," McCarthy said. "But I know my father agonized over that breakup. He always loved Fords."   

    Hurd remained in the automotive sales business until his death in 1970 at the age of 88.   

    As a memento of that ground-breaking dealership, McCarthy has in her family room a Model T grill with the letter "A" - the logo that served the Arkansas Valley Motor Company for years.  

Kay Keating

Kay Keating Picture  --  J.F. Keating Picture  

    Kay Keating's grandfather, John Frances Keating, came to Pueblo in 1872, rode the stagecoach to Beulah, experienced the beauty, and believed it was as close to paradise as he could get. Kay's grandfather bought 15 acres here, built a house, and raised seven children. He was the superintendent of schools in Pueblo and after his death, Keating School was named for him which is now The Keating Learning Center for the learning disabled. Her father, Lawrence Keating, later built a house and married Cecil Jordan. Kay's parents were married just before WWI and both served their country when war broke out. Lawrence was a Coast Artillery Officer in France and Cecil drove an ambulance for the Red Cross in Washington. Speaking lovingly of her parents, Kay remembers, "I saw the world from sitting on his shoulders and looking over his head. I held on to his forehead to keep from falling off. And my mother was very short, barely five feet tall. She needed 2X4s and rubber bands attached to the floor pedals of the ambulance so that she could drive."  Their honor and commitment to serve God and Country, cherish freedom, nurture family, respect nature, and preserve beauty and life, is carried on by Kay Keating.  

    Kay was in her third year as a pharmacy student when WWII broke out. "Women weren't supposed to serve in the military," explained Kay, "but the girls had learned typing and could do it ten times faster than men. Two thousand women went to Hunter College in New York. Four hundred women were chosen to serve as radio operators." Kay was one of these women. Her group took care of all radio traffic for the Patrol Fleet within the West Coast and the Hawaiian Islands, and later all radio traffic in the Pacific. The women serving didn't know what was said in Morse Code. Everything was encrypted, and everything was important. Under law, all women were to be separated from service 180 days after cessation of hostilities. "The war seemed over for us," Kay said, "but then they discovered they couldn't get along without us!" Two months later Kay received a letter that requested her to return to Buckley Field in Denver for the National Guard and Naval Reserve. Kay said she would do it only if she could work nights and pursue her pharmacy degree. Kay received her degree, was commissioned as an officer, and her first assignment in the Medical Service Corp was at the Pharmacy Tech School in San Diego. At sea, Kay served on the hospital ship, the USS Haven and was deployed to Korea. "All the hospital ships had tender names, the USS Hope, USS Rescue and others." After the prisoner exchange and peace was signed, two ships went home. The USS Haven and another ship were diverted to Saigon and rescued the French Foreign Legion Troops in Dien Bien Phu, took troops to North Africa and then to Marseilles, France to let off French officers, and then towards home crossing through the Panama Canal. During her 30 years of service, Kay received the Meritorious Service Medal, was Chief of Pharmacy Services at the Naval Hospital in Great Lakes, Illinois, and was promoted from Commander to Captain to earn her four gold stripes. During the Viet Nam War Kay taught Japanese interns in military hospitals. "My plum before retirement was reviewing the new troops at the Recruit Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois." She shared photographs and one young recruit was standing before Kay with his weapon. "I just know he was shaking in his boots." President Clinton  told Kay once at an awards ceremony that she was owed a debt. "Not me," said Kay. "It's the woman there, who was POW, one of thirty-seven military nurses imprisoned." The president asked the woman how she and the other nurses survived when so many men perished. The woman replied, "We lived because we had something to do. We kept as many men alive as we could. The men were in despair. They had nothing to do and we took care of them."  

    Kay hates the drought, stays home to keep watch over the KK Ranch and animals, and hopes for rain. She remembers being a child and bringing clear, clean, good-tasting water uphill from the creek in two buckets to stay balanced and try not to slop it out. Now she carries around heavy, five gallon containers of water, takes "Marine Baths," and misses the healing fragrance of lilacs that didn't bloom this spring. "In the 1930s, when Kansas blew into Colorado, I got a job herding turkeys. Their job was to eat the grasshoppers that ravaged the wheat fields in Beulah. My job was to carry a gunnysack tied to a broomstick  and keep the turkeys on task. I got fifteen cents a week and a chicken every Sunday." Kay remembers taking baths in a washtub on Saturday nights. "The cleanest kid got to go first. That was my sister. I was next and my brother got what was left."  

    For 10 years Kay Keating dressed as a hack driver with a moustache and drove for 102 weddings all over Colorado in an antique carriage. "The teenage boys who helped me on the ranch dressed as my footmen. I used the same team of white horses. Their names were Port and Starboard." Both horses have since died of cancer, but their pictures are displayed in Kay Keating's warm and welcome home.  

    "You know, I've had the privilege to serve all around the world, seen many places, and met many people. There is no place anywhere that is like Beulah. My grandfather said it right. It is as close to paradise as you can get."

The above article appeared in the September, 2002 issue of The Beulah Banner.  

AUGUST W. KLIPFEL

    Among the very early settlers of Beulah was August W. Klipfel of Grant City, Missouri, a member of the 106 Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War. After the war, he encouraged a small group to come west with him in search of a home for his family.   

    He camped in the upper area of South Creek about 8 miles above Beulah. He was determined to find work so he could bring his wife, Leah Thomas and three children (Edward, Mabel and Charles T.) from Missouri to the Beulah area to reside. Two children, William J. and Mary Anne, were buried in Missouri.   

    In a short time, he did bring his family west in a covered wagon drawn by oxen.   

    Charles T. Klipfel, a young lad of 6, well remembers the night of their arrival in Pueblo in 1882. A horse thief was hung on Pueblo's "Hanging Tree"!   

    Later in 1882, they homesteaded on the Couzzen Springs Road on a location then known as the "Yuker Place". On this homestead the family suffered a frightening experience during corn planting season. Charles was helping his father when he was bitten on the heel by a rattlesnake. The closest doctor was in Beulah on Pine Drive at the present site of the W.K. Hurd home. A donkey was ridden to get help. While waiting for the doctor, Mrs. Klipfel caught chickens, split open their backs and wrapped them around the boy's ankle. Heat from their bodies drew out the poison. However, the scars remained with him always.   

    The "Slattery Place" on South Creek was their first home in Beulah Valley; it is now the Occhiato home. August raised cattle, farmed and operated a sawmill.   

    The family later moved farther down South Creek to the location now owned by Mrs. Beverly Klipfel. This home was destroyed by fire on a cold winter night. The children were ill with measles and had to be laid on blankets on the ground until they could be moved to their permanent home which was an old log schoolhouse moved from Pueblo Mountain Park from the Horseshoe Lodge Area. This was later known as "Uncle Francis' Cabin".   

    Four children were born in Beulah, Francis I, Mellie, Mildred Elizabeth and Valentine J. (Vollie). Two children died in Beulah, Mabel in 1892 and Edward in 1894. Both are buried in the Beulah Cemetery. Two sisters, Nellie (Klipfel) Dutcher and Mildred (Klipfel) Walters moved to Powell, Wyoming. The three brothers, Charles T., Francis I, and Valentine (Vollie) remained in Beulah.   

    August W. and Leah Thomas died in January, 1918; their deaths were only 16 days apart. Both are buried in Beulah Cemetery.   

     When Charles was 9 years old, he was hired by Cal Hurcules to build a rock wall. His pay for the summer's labor was a baby calf. He later purchased the farm from Mr. Hurcules; it became the home of his son, Wesley T. Klipfel. This rock wall still stands on the Kay Keating property today.   

    Charles T. Klipfel married Faye Altman in 1901, and to their union eight children were born. They built their first home "Nightingale", on Central Street. Later, they moved to their permanent home, "The Red Gables Ranch", and resided there until their deaths. Faye died in 1936 and Charles died in 1940.   

    Charles T. drove a freight wagon from the Beulah Marble Quarry to the Pueblo train depot; this marble was used in the capitol building in Denver.   

    He was a stagecoach driver in 1901 between Beulah and Pueblo. Many people travelled by stagecoach to Beulah to stay at the hotels and boardinghouses in the area. Among the passengers was a young woman suffering from Tuberculosis who came to Beulah on a stretcher to regain her health. She resided in a tent and on that property she later built the Pine Drive Store; she will be remembered by many as Mrs. Tom (Selma) Smith.   

    For many years, Charles was the Republican Chairman and his brother, Francis, was the Democratic Chairman. They looked forward to election days and were best of pals.   

     In 1921, Charles and sons, Herman, Beverly and Wesley contracted from the U.S. Forest Service to gravel North Creek Divide. This work was done with horses.   

    Charles and sons built the tank and helped dig by hand the pipeline for the Pine Drive Water System. They also hauled gravel with wagon teams and built some of the first swimming pools on Pine Drive when Beulah became a summer resort.   

    Two incidents are well remembered by the Klipfel Family. Mrs. Faye Klipfel, Charles' wife was walking near the present site of Gayway and saw a little arm floating in the irrigation ditch. The ditch carried a large amount of water at the time. She removed the body of her neighbor's little girl. Then on September 17, 1919, Emmet Klipfel was struck by lightening while standing under the school bell and writing on the blackboard. He was knocked unconscious and burned severely. His life was saved by the toes of his shoes which were sewn with copper wire. A new pair of shoes had been ordered from a mail order house and had not arrived.  

CHARLES HERMAN KLIPFEL  

    As County Commissioner of Pueblo County, Mr. Klipfel has placed his unusual organizing ability at the service of the public and has made a remarkable contribution during the four years he has been in office.   

    Born in Pueblo, on April 19, 1903, Mr. Klipfel is a son of Charles T. and Faye (Altman) Klipfel, both now deceased. His father was a farmer and he remained on their farm helping his father until he was twenty-one, securing his education in the public schools of Beulah. After he came of age he was employed for a short time by the Platt Rogers Construction Company, but returned to farming and managed his own farm for several years. He suffered a serious injury to his back which caused paraysis and forced him to give up farming. After a year and a half, however, his health returned sufficiently so that he was able to take a position as watchman with the Nuckles Packing Company in Pueblo, and gradually he undertook more responsibility until he had charge of the night scales. While engaged in this work he invented a sweeping compound which was very successful and he has continued to manufacture it in a small way ever since. In 1942 he was elected County Commissioner of Pueblo County and has held this office for three years plus one year as city commissioner. When Mr. Klipfel came into office he found that the County owned large tracts of land which it had held for delinquent taxes, in some cases for as long as sixty-five years. He had a map made which showed clearly the exact location of all County lands and he then began an intensive campaign to sell these tracts with such success that to date over 50,000 parcels have been sold and the County is now collecting revenue from what had been practically waste land. His success in showing these lands has aroused wide interest so that public officials from all parts of the West have come to study his methods.   

    During his four years as commissioner Mr. Klipfel has been a profound advocate for reduction in taxes. Mr. Klipfel is also interested in the Mutual Machinery company in which he is a partner. Perhaps his chief title to fame, however, stems from his ability to barbecue. He uses methods of his own and has been most successful, having fed groups of anywhere from sixty to over seven thousand persons, and wherever an outdoor pit barbeque is needed he is the first one called upon to prepare it. Mr. Klipfel is a Republican in politics and is president of the G.O.P. Boosters Club and a member of the exective board of young Republican State Committee. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church, and belongs to the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce and the Junior Chamber of Commerce, and the Saddle Club. He is greatly interested in fraternal organizations and belongs to the South Pueblo Lodge No. 31 of the Free and Accepted Masons, to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, to the Chapter and Royal and Select Master Council of the Royal Arcanum, to the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and to Woodmen of the World. His recreational interests are fishing and deer hunting. During the War he has assisted actively on all patriotic and welfare drives, the Red Cross, the March of Dimes, on which he was a committee member, and on the Community Chest drives he had charge of organizing the rural areas of Pueblo County. He is interested in welfare and community organizations and has served on the committees for Crippled Children and Cancer and the Goodwill Industries, and is a member of the boards of McClelland Orphanage and the United Services Organization.   

    On May 31, 1925, Mr. Klipfel married Edna Fay Lemmon of Illinois. They are the parents of four children: 1. Charlene, a graduate of Central high School and now attending Pueblo Junior College. 2. Ellen Joyce, attending Central high School. 3. Patricia Ann, also in high school. 4. Charles Herman, Jr., at present in grade school.  

 

 

 

WILLARD M. KLIPFEL  

    Willard Klipfel, owner-operator of the Springfield Implement Company, located in Springfield, Baca County, Colorado is a dealer for the Minneapolis-Moline and New Holland farm equipment. He is also a dealer for Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth cars. He offers sales and service to a territory consisting of the entire exterior of Baca County. Mr. Klipfel is a native Coloradoan. He came to Springfield in 1959 to establish this business on a small scale and has developed and expanded it to a $475,000.00 a year volume.   

    Willard M. Klipfel was born to Mr. and Mrs. Beverly Klipfel in Pueblo County, Colorado, on October 29, 1935. His mother, the former Miss Goldie Hankla married Beverly Klipfel in Pueblo in 1931. His father was water commissioner of Beulah and Rye, Colorado. Willard M. Klipfel acquired his early schooling at the public schools of Pueblo. When a young man, he worked as a service station attendant and later did construction work at Beulah, Colorado.   

    Mr. Klipfel married Miss Mary Elizabeth Green, a native of Pueblo, Colorado, and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C.W. Green. Her mother was Miss Evelyn Connally prior to her marriage. Three chldren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Klipfel: Morris C., James A, and Cynthia Ann.   

    Mr. Klipfel is a member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce of Springfield, Colorado. He is a man who accepts responsibility and is always reaching out for accomplishment and the development of business in his community.

 

 

 

EDMUND B. KOLLER  

    Edward B. Koller, prominent Pueblo businessman, is president, general manager, and part owner of The Walters Brewing Company, Inc., in Pueblo, Pueblo County, Colorado. Mr. Koller came to this firm in 1935 when the business was reactivated following repeal of prohibition. In August 1963 Mr. Koller, with Andy and John Sackman, both Pueblo businessmen, acquired controlling interest in Walters Brewing Company. The company was founded in 1889 by four Walters brothers, immigrants from Germany, who came first to Wisconsin and then to Pueblo, where they bought the Pueblo Brewery, giving it their family name. At that time the business was a two-story cellar built into a hillside for natural insulation. The first refrigerated room was installed in 1890. The company has enjoyed steady growth through the years, and the product is now distributed in 15 states.   

    Edmund B. Koller was born April 8, 1915, in Pueblo, to Joseph and Catherine Koller. His parents were natives of Yugoslavia and Germany and were married in Pueblo. His father died in 1943; and his mother, in 1958. Edmund Koller attended St. Patrick High School in Pueblo and attended American Business College, a night school. He served with the U.S. Army from 1941 to 1946 in the South Pacific and rose from private to captain. Mr. Koller worked in his parents' grocery store from his childhood on while going to school. After graduation from high school, he worked for three years for Ridenour-Baker, wholesale grocers, and rose to assistant cashier there. In 1935 he joined the Walters Brewing Company.   

    Mr. Koller married the former Harriett Sinclair, adopted daughter of Arthur and Beatrice Sinclair, on June 25, 1941, in Pueblo. Mr. Sinclair, born in Kincade, Kansas, worked for the Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation for forty-nine years. Now Eighty-three, he makes his home in Beulah, Colorado, with his second wife, Margaret Babish Sinclair. Mrs. Beatrice Sinclair was born in Pueblo and died in 1939. Mrs. Edmund B. Koller was born in Leadville, Colorado. Mr. and Mrs. Koller are the parents of four daughters: Priscilla, Maryellen, Kathleen, and Elizabeth.   

    Edmund B. Koller is on the board of directors and a past president of the Chamber of Commerce, a member of the board of trustees of the state of  Colorado, a director and third vice-president of the Brewers Association of America, and a director of the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, District Number 7. He is a member of the Elks Lodge 90, the Kiwanis Club, the Knights of Columbus, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the American Legion. He holds memberships in the Minnequa Club and the Pueblo Country Club. He is a member of St. Therese's Catholic Church. Mr. Koller's hobbies are golf and fishing. Mr. Koller has contributed greatly to the economy of the Pueblo area through his business and enjoys a fine reputation among all who know him.

 

 

ELNORA LORJE  

by Raechel Thompson

(Picture)

 

ORVILLE MYERS  

by Raechel Thompson

(Picture)  

RAY AND EDNA SIMONSON ROPER

(Picture)  

 

    Ray, son of Lee and Jessie Roper, married Edna Simonson, daughter of John and Kristina Simonson, 1913 in Goodpasture, Colorado. Her parents came from Sweden in 1887, ranched close to Denver until they moved to the 3-R Ranch when Edna was five years old. She attended the Sitton and Cedar Grove Schools, graduating from the eighth grade. After Ray and Edna were married, they did live in the original parsonage house for a short period of time before eventually moving to Pueblo. Ray was employed by the Nuckolls Packing Company for twelve years and retired from the Pueblo Ordnance Depot. They had no children but did enjoy numerous nieces and nephews. The Roper children loved them very much and felt indebted to them for a lot of the preservation of family history.   

    Edna's brother, Roy Simonson, and family have been prominent ranchers in Beulah Valley for many years and still remain in their home today (1992).  

WILLIAM SENGER, M.D.  

 

    It so happened in the life of the distinguished surgeon, Dr. William Senger, of Pueblo, that in the year he completed his internship, he joined Richard Warren Corwin, M.D., in the organization of a hospital inaugurated by the older man, on a new plan and introducing the most modern practices established at that time. One of the proofs of the qualities of the founder was his ability to select sound men to be associated with him, and to retain their loyalty through good periods and bad. One of these close associates was Dr. Senger, who ultimately gave up his general practice to devote full time to what is now the Corwin Hospital of Pueblo, succeeding to the post of chief surgeon.   

    Dr. Senger is a native of New york, born at Port Jervis, June 8, 1874, son of Louis C. and Florence Amelia (Corwin) Senger, both of whom are now deceased. The father came originally from the Tyrol, in the Austrian Alps region, while his wife was a member of a long established family of note in Binghamton and Broome County, New York. The future doctor prepared for higher academic education in the high school of his birthplace, and matriculated at Williams College in Massachusetts, where he was graduated a Bachelor of Arts, class of 1895. For his technical education he went to the Medical College of Yale University, Connecticut, where he became a Doctor of Medicine in 1901. To a large extent he had worked his way to a profession by various occupations and probably was the better for the fact that he climbed a road strewn with obstacles, to ultimate success. He was an intern in the famous Presbyterian Hospital of New York City (1901-1902), and the Minnequa Hospital, in the Pueblo section of Colorado. His post-graduate studies were carried on in the Philadelphia Polytechnic Hospital, and in England and Germany.   

    In 1903, Dr. Senger initiated a general practice of his profession in Pueblo, but was a specialist in internal medicine from graduation to the year 1909. Since that time his activities have been for the most part surgical, in which he has earned an exceptional reputation. From the record it would appear that his inclination and work was in the direction of surgery well before the above date, but also from the record is the fact that in 1910, he devoted his attention to surgery and several years later accepted appointment as Assistant Chief Surgeon of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, with headquarters in the Minnequa (Corwin) Hospital, of which he later was named head. Upon the death of Dr. Richard Warren Corwin in 1929, (q.v.) he was chosen Chief Surgeon of this remarkable institution, a spot he filled most capably to his retirement in 1943.   

    Since the above year, Dr. William Senger has carried on a limited private practice. He has been surgeon of the Missouri Pacific & C.& W. Railroad since 1914; attending surgeon of the Colorado Insane Asylum since 1918; and also of the Woodcroft Sanatorium, since 1923. For keeping in contact with colleagues and the latest developments in surgery and medicine, Dr. Senger is a member of the Pueblo County Medical Society, the Colorado State Medical Society, American Medical Association, Western Surgical Association, the American Association of Industrial Physicians and Surgeons, and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. His contributions to the literature of his profession include numerous articles published in medical and scientific magazines. He is a former president of the Pueblo County Medical Society, and the Colorado State Medical Society. Fraternally Dr. Senger is affiliated with the Masonic Order. He is a Republican in party connections but more interested in good candates and progressive measures than in political association. For a decade he was a member of the School Board, District No. 20, and has been at all times to the fore in the promotion of education and cultural affairs in Pueblo. Socially inclined, his clubs include the Minnequa, Pueblo Golf, Beulah, and the Kiwanis. He and his family attend the Protestant Episcopal Church, and are liberal in the support of religious and charitable works. As regards recreation, Dr. Senger enjoys almost anything that enables him to get out-of-doors. He long has fished and hunted, and is no mean expert at gardening, whether ornamental or practical.   

    On March 28, 1919, Dr. William Senger married Mary Edith Knott, of Los Angeles, California, and they are the parents of a daughter Elizabeth, a graduate of San Luis School in Colorado Springs, and Colorado College. She married Frank C. Moore, of Dallas, Texas, who served as a captain in the 32nd Infantry Division, United States Army, World War II.

WILLIAM SHARP  

by Ruth Carter  

 

    Because the Beulah Art Show will soon be upon us, and, realizing that Bill Sharp was the instigator of this annual event, I thought it would be of interest to reprint an article from "The Beulah Bugle" (Nov. 30, 1951) recognizing his talents before we even had an art show in Beulah.

SHARP FOCUS

 

    Beulah Valley was in the spot-light last month when one of it's well known citizens, Mr. William Sharp, was honored by the showing of his paintings at the Pueblo Junior College. The show was sponsored by the Pueblo Arts Group.   

    We are all interested in knowing a little about the artist and his family.   

     Mr. Sharp was born in Pueblo, January 21, 1924. His interests were recognized and encouraged by his art teacher, Miss Joysa Gains, while he was in high school. It was under her guidance that his water colors were sent and shown in Boulder, New York and South America. That was the beginning of his climb to fame.

- - - - - - - - - -  

    In 1946, his picture, "Sulky Race" was awarded first prize at the Colorado State Fair.   

    The junior college has purchased his picture "City Scene" and Mr. Adolf Dane has his "Self Portrait".   

    He and his brunette wife, daughter Joanne, and son Thomas moved to the valley in 1950 and are now residing on Pine Drive.   

    His wife has artistic and literary interests. She attended the University of Illinois and is now a secretary at the C.F. & I. On interviewing Mrs. Sharp, the following is indicative of her devotion to her artist husband:   

    "Only once or twice in a century does the world produce a man who is dedicated, heart and soul, to fulfilling his mission in life. Such a man is William Sharp of Beulah. His mission is to grow, and to record that growth on canvas, panels, and lithograph paper. The singleness of his purpose is reflected unerringly in the almost brutal honesty of some of his oils. Life itself lurks in his paintings with the haunting melancholy of a soul in purgatory--record of the Pilgrim's Progress.   

    Works by Mr. Sharp are, therefore, of necessity, never "after" another artist. He is an individualist. He is unique. He seeks to portray his own soul, above all and in so doing he unconsciously portrays the soul of all mankind.   

    What matter the details? The jobs as cartoonist and designer? The three years in submarine service in World War Two. The nine months in the hospital? The schooling at the Fine Arts Center in Colorado Springs under Boardman Robinson? The exhibits of his lithographs at the Philadelphia Print Club, Carnegie Institute and the Library of Congress? The patronage of Adolph Dehn? The one man shows at Colorado Springs and Pueblo? Those, I repeat, are details; only background.

    For William Sharp was born to be a great artist, and, come what may, he is fulling his destiny. (Who should know better than I? I married him!)"   

     Mr. Paul Ihrig, head of the art department at the Junior College, with other art instructors from the Denver and Colorado Universities and several other artists (Mr. Sharp among them) are filming a colored picture on Visual Education to attempt to bring art and the approach to art to the general public. Mr. Sharp's work has been filmed, in color, along with environmental pictures of the artist and Beulah. The film should be ready for public viewing in the spring.    

Submitted by,   

Linda Amman Gradisar

 

 

RUTH AND ROY SIMONSON  

 

    In 1928 Ruth Asher was 16 and still in high school. Roy Simonson was twenty-one and working on his family's ranch. Their first meeting was brief while visiting Edna, Roy's sister. Little did they know that their future would hold 54 years together as husband and wife.   

    Later their paths would cross at the various dances they attended. Dances were one of the major social events held at that time. Whether it was at the Burnt Mill, Goodpasture, or Gay Way Dance Halls, Roy and Ruth could dance to the foxtrot, waltz, or square dance. By 1935 their relationship had become more serious and in 1936 Roy and Ruth were married on the same day that the circus came to Pueblo. They had a simple wedding at Ruth's parents house, George and Carrie Asher, officiated by Reverend L.W. Gunby.   

    John Simonson, Roy's father, immigrated from Sweden to Colorado in 1887. In 1894, he and his wife Christina moved to the Beulah area where they leased the Three R Ranch for a short time before homesteading their own property to the north.   

    Ruth came to Colorado when she was three. She and her mother came by train and her father followed up on the emigrant car with four head of horses, furniture and a wagon. Ruth's family raised large flocks of turkeys on Water Barrel Flats.   

    Roy and Ruth have always worked hard on their ranch, often 7 days a week, 16 hours a day. They raised two daughters, Ilona and Janet. They have four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. They talk positively and fondly of their 54 years together. Their relationship is strong and Ruth says: "You can always work things out even if things get kind of rough."   

    All of us in Beulah Valley wish the Simonson's a very special and happy Valentine's Day!  

This article was reprinted from The Beulah Banner, February 14, 1990 - Issue 5.  

 

 

MONA & HAROLD SMITH  

by Joy Rundell  

 

    If two people were destined to be together, it is surely Mona and Harold "Smitty" Smith, but it has been a long and winding road before they became the loving couple that they now are. Mona Lee Dameron and Harold Smith have known each other since third grade, and even in high school they briefly went steady, but after high school their paths took very different directions.   

    Mona Lee Dameron, the oldest of two girls, is a native Puebloan who has enjoyed the charms and beauty of Beulah since she was a child. Her father and mother, Claire and Ann Dameron, spent 30 years as summer residents in Beulah. The bought their first house on North Creek in 1939. Mona's father was Pueblo's Deputy U.S. Marshall for 26 years. As a child Mona particularly enjoyed horseback riding, and recalled a Fourth of July Celebration in Beulah where she square danced on horseback! Another horse event during the celebration was balancing an egg in a spoon while riding horseback and passing it along to your partner, also on horseback. Mona and Tom Stavely won first place.   

    While in high school Mona had a summer job working along with Rose Caple and Jo Donley at Mrs. Stroman's house, who had luncheons for the high society ladies of Beulah and dinner for guests from Pueblo. One year out of high school Mona Lee  married Jack Hite, and the young couple settled in Seattle, where Mona was to live for the next 37 years. Mona had three children; Carole, married to Rusty Ludwig, both are psychologists, and together they have four children. Mona's second child, Steve, was born in Seattle, graduated from University of Washington, and is continuing his father's real estate business. Nancy, Mona's third child, lives in Mill Creek, Washington, is a divorced mother of two children and owns "Nancy's Noah's Ark Pre-school". Mona was an active mother who participated in P.T.A., church activities, and worked part-time as a medical secretary. She got divorced in 1968, and began a new life as a single woman.   

    Harold "Smitty" Smith was born in Texas, but came to Pueblo when he was six years old with his widowed mother, his two brothers, and three sisters. Smitty's interest in being a doctor began at the early age of six, when he was in the hospital for surgery on his hand. He decided then that he wanted to be a doctor and would work toward that goal. After high school he attended Pueblo Junior College, pre-med for two years. He entered the Army in 1946; after his discharge he attended University of Colorado, graduated in 1953, and interned at St. Luke's. During his first year in medical school he met Claire Marie, also a medical student. They married and had four children, the eldest being Harold Smith, II, who lives in Englewood and has two children and Jeni Leigh McGee, who is living in New Mexico. His third child, Candi Smith, was killed in a drunk driver accident in 1980. His fourth child, Kent Smith, operates a recording business in Florida.   

    In 1969 Smitty was divorced, met and married Janet Pacheco. They were married for seven years. Always a close family friend to the Damerons, Smitty called Mona in 1979 to inform her about her father's ill health. Between Thanksgiving of 1979 and May 1980, Smitty and Mona had only seven dates, yet fate had finally brought them together. Smitty mailed Mona a poem asking her to marry him. They lived in Pueblo until six years ago when they bought their present home on Cascade. The house is over 100 years old  and has been a school, stage coach stop, and an orphanage.   

    In 1976 Smitty received Pueblo Doctor of the Year Award, and he was President of Pueblo County Medical Society from 1986-87. After 35 years in the medical practice, Smitty retired in 1988. Since his retirement Smitty loves to work around the house, golf, hide, and "watch the fish". He promised Mona, "From now on if you do the cooking, I'll do the dishes." A promise Mona says he is keeping! Their home is lovingly cared for with an oasis-like atmosphere. Mona is currently taking a painting class in tole art, enjoys gardening, reading, and "just spending time with Smitty". Mona is planning a family reunion for the Dameron's July 6, 7 and 8. She expects guests and relatives from Denver, Pueblo, Rye, Phoenix and Seattle.

Taken from the July 1, 1990, Issue 12, The Beulah Banner, Page 3.  

WARD STRYKER  

by Raechel Thompson

(with special thanks to Willis Goettel for writing and research)

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