https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/c719a7a3fcdc39abe480dc61d04e5464.pdf 1d61978f0f75757ec5fc945d285014a1 PDF Text Text CHARLOTTE M. (GORMAN) JONES 'l 'l J J Charlotte Gorman was born in Chicago, the daughter of William and Frances Gorman, both of whom were Canadian immigrants born near Toronto, Ontario. When William and Frances met in Chicago in 1900, William worked for the Chicago Street Railroad Co, which operated horse-drawn street cars all over the Chicago metro area. Women were supposedly unliberated in 1900, but Frances played golf often and well. Both she and William were interested in the theater. Years later Charlotte says she recalls hearing them talkins about the Berrymores and the- Drews and other famous acting families of that period. Most recreation in Chicago during the summer centered around Lake Michigan. ") ' , ) ) -) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J _) .J -' J J J .J J . "In the summer my mother and her brothers and sisters usually rented a houseboat on the lake. The boat was moored to a pier off the shore several miles from town. The only access to town was a packet boat which came along once a day. If we wanted to go to town for shopping or to send mail, we raised a flag on the boat as a signal for the packet boat to stop. These vacations were a cool relaxing time of swimming, fishing, sunbathing and rest." Charlotte's memories of Chicago, such as those above, have been reinforced by her parents, since she was only about four years old when the Gormans moved to the Ozarks. Before William retired he began dabbling in the buying and selling of real estate. He moved the family onto one of his plots near Ironton and Burbank, Missouri, about 90 miles south of St. Louis. During the year and a half the Gormans were there, William was the postmaster in Ironton. Then William heard of the Loma Land Development Co. which was opening farming land in the Colorado River Valley west of Grand Junction and Fruita. William and many other easterners invested in farmland there. A Presbyterian Mission was opened at Loma and is still operating, but the farm projects did not do so well. Neither the Gormans nor the other Easterners had heard of alkali land. Most of the farms at Loma proved largely unsuitable for irrigated farming. Therefore, the Gormans moved to Orchard Heights near Fruita. Then began some of the most enjoyable years of Charlotte's life . "Orchard Heights was a beautiful place. We could look right up into the Colorado National Monument from our yard. The orchards, mostly apples, occupied hundreds of acres. Our place was rented from a New York State man who had planted every kind of apple we knew about and many varieties we never knew the names of." Charlotte and her brother, Douglas traveled to school at Fruita 3 miles away in a horsedrawn school bus. The bus consisted of a wagon with seats along the sides and benches for the little ones down the middle. It was roofed and had black oil-cloth curtains which could be closed during bad weather. .J J J J J J .._J .._J "All the young ones in our area played 'hide and go seek' and went swimming during the warm months. During winter we had community parties or went ice skating on the stock ponds." 87 �Fall was a lime of work, a time of apple picking and potato digging and of constructing apple boxes. The growers built their own apple boxes from pre-cut sticks and boards. Charlotte remembers doing her share of nailing. Then the apples were packed, hauled to the Railroad Depot and shipped. Farm children have opportunities for varieties of pets largely unavailable to city kids. Charlotte remembers one pet lamb which became a nuisance in the neighborhood. "He would follow our buggy wherever we went Once he followed us all the way to Loma where he made himself a nuisance in the flower beds. Almost the whole town turned out to make sure he followed us when we left." When Charlotte was about 10 years old, her parents moved lo another place near Fruita where they attended a country school for grades 4-8. William grew potatoes and tomatoes as well as apples there. "While we were there a couple of burros came to live with us. They just showed up. Douglas would try to ride one of them lo school, but he usually didn't make it About halfway there the burro would tum around and head for home and Doug would have to walk all the way to school anyway." Charlotte loved to read and did a lot of writing, too. At the age of 9 she announced that she intended to be a newspaper reporter, "I donl know why I said that, but it must have been a premonition of things lo come." In high school Charlotte especially enjoyed English, dramatics and journalism. She was the editor of the first Fruita High School newspaper. In college Charlotte majored in journalism and would have accepted a job on the Grand Junction newspaper, but the wages were too low. Instead she taught school in Fruita for 4 years. "I first came to the San Juan Basin to visit a college friend who lived in Cortez. I stayed in Durango a while at the Sterling Hotel which was operated by Lawrence Wiseman's mother. Mrs. Wiseman and I became good friends and she took me with her on a visit to Ignacio to see Lawrence and Margaret. It was on this visit that I met my future husband. Fay Jones worked at the sugar beet mill in Brighton during the fall and early winter. During spring and summer he came back lo Ignacio to help his aunt and uncle run the Commercial Hotel which was located on Goddard Avenue where the recent Bill Liesa auto repair shop Is located." The hotel has burned down since then, but in its day Charlotte says it was a very nice place and an interesting place to slay. "All kinds of travelers, including Washington officials here on Tribal business stayed there. The parlor was a place of lively conversation and fun in the evenings. The restaurant served delicious food. A complete Sunday dinner cost forty cents." Inflation operated then too. Charlotte says Louis Morris recalls what a blow it was when the Sunday dinners increased for forty cents to fifty cents per meal. "I stayed there in the hotel several days. They were so short handed that I was offered a job and took it It was there I got acquainted with Fay. We were married in November of 1933. Fay worked in the mill in Brighton till Christmas time. Then we came back to Ignacio." 89 �'! 'l -i '! '! '! ' l ) Steady jobs were almost impossible to find during those depression years, when Fay and Charlotte got a chance to buy the Ignacio Chiefton, they took it. At that time the Chiefton was located in one half of the building now occupied by Rudy's Lounge. The other half of the building was Mr. Stauffer's Barber Shop (Jesse Hott's father). Charlotte was the editor and reporter and Fay was the publisher and advertising manager. It wasn't easy to keep a newspaper alive during the 30's. Many subscriptions were paid in produce rather than with cash. One man paid his with strawberries for years. ) ) The Joneses have three children; Malcolm lives in La Porte, Texas, Jacqueline Rea lives in Denver and Kathleen Rosenberg lives in Oakland, New Jersey. ) ) -) ) ) ) ) } Faye died in 1968. Since then Charlotte has spent quite a bit of time traveling. She has been to Canada twice to visit relatives and, also, on a bus tour of Mexico. No one is surprised that Charlotte can't quit writing. She has written a number of short stories andis currently working on a history of the Presbyterian Church in this area. Every month Mrs. Jones voluntarily supplies most of the news for this newsletter. A healthy interest in life is rewardin~ and invigorating. Charlotte certainly has this. "When I first came to Ignacio, I thought it was a fascinating place with it's variety of cultures and traditions and its beautiful surroundings. I still do." July, 1975 -- Shelby Smith ) ) ) ) ) J ) _) _) J ..) J J J J .J J J J J J J J J 89 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Francis Jones and Hazel (Hildinger) Jones Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1976-05 Subject The topic of the resource Jones, Francis; Jones, Hazel (Hildinger); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Francis Jones and Hazel (Hildinger) Jones based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the May, 1976 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jones, Francis; Jones, Hazel (Hildinger) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby