https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/bbc6cc8155e464c5f9dcc8e68b1791b1.pdf 43de4c87ca2cdf6c90d7bdd8ecc4ad9b PDF Text Text Tom Wiseman (Abridged) My full name is William Thomas Wiseman. I was born in Durango at Mercy Hospital in November 1930. My mother was Margaret Summers Wiseman; her maiden name was Bowman. Her father, Thomas E. Bowman, came over Stony Pass into Silverton in 1874. He was a young Civil War veteran, and a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin in metallurgy. He had acquired a job as a teacher at Colorado College, but coming west he had become interested in the gold fever. He became associated with the people named Greene, who brought the first smelter into Silverton, CO. He was later on the Town Board in Silverton, and later on after many years moved to Durango when the Silverton smelter became less efficient. He married my grandmother, Etta Louisa Bowman, in 1881 I believe it was. He was 20 years older than she. They later had a son named William Bowman and a daughter named Lena Bowman in 1891 and 1894. And then my mother, a late life child, came along surprisingly in 1905. So, that accounts for me, at my tender age of 73, having a grandfather who was in the Civil War and not a greatgrandfather. He passed away about seven years before I was born, so I never got to know him although I know a lot about him. My father was born in Pagosa Junction, CO; where his father in 1904 was working for the railroad. Apparently the family was living there while he worked construction, and previously my grandfather had homesteaded far southeast of Bayfield on what is now called New Creek. Later, after my dad's parents divorced, he, his brother Barney and my grandmother Lula moved to Durango; where my dad went to work at the age of 14. After her finishing the eighth grade in Bayfield schools, my mom and he met in Durango and married in 1927. Having worked in several different areas in Durango, he was at this time working at a firm called the Durango Hardware Company; which was located on the 900 block of Main in Durango. He became acquainted with a wholesale hardware salesman, who told him about an opportunity to manage a store in Ignacio. The store being named HC. Biggs and Company; which was a hardware, lumber, farm implement and feed dealer at the time. Dad must have been only 25 or something at the time, so he came out here, stayed at the local commercial hotel, and worked for Mr. Biggs for some time. A few months later, he moved his family to Ignacio. The Biggs family moved to Grand Junction at this time. So, I was two years old when we moved to Ignacio. I virtually grew up in the hardware store. Much of my time off was spent there- it seemed to be a fun place to be. Later on, went to school here in Ignacio through the ninth grade. At this time and in previous years, kids from Ignacio went to Durango to finish high school. And, at this time, in the late 40s, had lost its accreditation: due to the war the enrollment at the school was very, very low. I graduated from Durango High School in 1948, entered the University of Denver that Fall, and graduated from there in 1952. When I first went to Denver, to school, I felt that I really wanted to get into the big time, was not much interested in coming back to this part of the country. At that time, most kids my age kind of wanted to leave the area for bigger opportunities. But, most of my acquaintances at �Page 2 of6 Denver University were older than I. They were mostly World War II veterans. They seemed to be delighted in the mountains, the scenery. Most of them were from back East and the Midwest. After a year or two I started looking around and thinking more carefully that I had mountains out my front door window everyday. I slowly realized that this was my home and would be so. In 1954, while working with my father (by all this time through school and after school), I met and married a girl from Bayfield named Beverly Moberly. We had three children: Gretchen, born in 1956; Loretta, born in 1957; and Larry, born in 1959. Throughout all of these years I was active in all conceivable local service organizations: Kiwanis Clubs, Lions Clubs, various committees with the Southern Ute Tribe, I was involved on the Town Board through several contentious years as a board member and mayor pro tern. I was involved in things like trying to save the old Ignacio Chieftain newspaper. I have always been hopeful that somehow a museum could be built in this area to commemorate the unusual history of this young, strangely versatile town. In 1976 my father died, in 1979 my mother died. In the meantime, in 1968, I had purchased the entirety of the hardware store from my dad, and he retired happily after that. But, he did work some in the hardware store at his and my convenience and desire-we were always good friends, the best. In 1981-82, I divorced my wife. She moved to Durango, the kids by this time were all over the age of 21 and were scattered throughout the country. Six years later, I went to a high school class reunion, where I re-met my old girl that I had dated in high school named Paula. We married in 1988. She is practically a Durango native, at least she's a Colorado native (having been born in Durango). I don't consider myself to be such an unusual character, but boy have I met a lot of them. The pioneers of this town are underreported I believe. For example, Hans Aspas; who as an infant (aged one and a half years), was carried by his mother over Stony Pass into Silverton at about the same time that my grandfather arrived there. His father had been an officer in the Norwegian army. Harold Payne and many of the old, old timers that I didn't know, but who were terrific strong, solid people. Joe Velasquez, many, many Southern Utes- Julius Cloud, Julian Baker- we're all acquaintances. Did business with them, was friends with them. To many it would have been an uneventful life; to me it's very colorful. My children love this area. They have mixed emotions about their childhood, but as they grow and mature I think they realize their acquaintance the Southern Ute tribal members, the Navajo tribal members whom they went to school with when the schools were integrated (the public schools and the Indian school). They're Spanish-American friends have given them a broad diversity, an understanding and comfort with, I believe, other races and people of other beliefs and values. *** I've essentially lived on this street all my life. When we first moved to Ignacio, the Biggs house; which is on the 500 block of Browning Ave. (where Jesse Hott now lives), was our house until 1935 when my father bought the little house across the street here [455 Browning Ave.]; which at one time was 470 Browning Ave. Then, after I married, I bought the house two doors north on that side of the street [east side]; which at that time was 440 Browning Ave. �Page 3 of6 In 1977 or '78, the house where I live now, presently, (455 Browning Ave.) came up for sale and I bought it, having always enjoyed and liked the house. We spent a great deal of money overhauling, remodeling, and adding rooms upstairs to the house. This house was built by the person who owned the local lumberyard; which was at that time known as Ignacio Lumber Co. Circa 1916 or '17, it was sold to the Biggs family, who were part ofa big lumber operation out of Chama, and also with family connections in Grand Junction. The store was owned and operated by Homer Biggs- Homer C. Biggs (the 'C.' stands for Copeland, I believe). They had three children, one of whom was named Homer Biggs, Jr. They went to school here. The Historical Society now has pictures, early class pictures, including 'Joe' Biggs- his nickname was 'Joe' to his family. He later, during the early part of World War II, left Colorado College and became an Army Air Force cadet. He learned to fly in Phoenix, at Luke Field I believe it was. Went into B-17 training. In May of 1943, his bomber was shot down over France and he did not survive. Among other tons of pictures that I have, I have a picture of that flight crew. I'm deeply interested in the success of the Historical Society. And, I hope that somehow, someday a facility can be acquired, or participated in, where so many pictures and records of archives can be safely preserved for the future. This community has always been a rather cosmopolitan community, because of the original Bureau of Indian Affairs/Dept. of the Interior school system here mainly for Navajo kids. The school existed from what must have been the 1920s to about 1970. The many oil and gas interests that have had staff located here, the wide diversity of teaching talent, there's been quite a variety from all over the country. My own background, for example: My grandfather (my mother's father) came from Wisconsin-born there a year and half after his mother migrated from England to Wisconsin. Her mother [Tom's mother's mother], Edna Louis Bowman, was born in Ohio, and came out here to stay with an elder sister; who was married to a Methodist minister in Durango, in the 1880' s. My father's father came out here from North Carolina, from the mountains of NC to homestead. And his wife, my grandmother, also came from the mountains of North Carolina. So, we have our own eastern 'roots'. I was an only child. There were two other attempts: one before me and one after me, both were unsuccessful. My mother was born on December 1905 at home in Durango at 760 3rd Avenue. The house is still there. It's for sale. You could snab it up for about $450,000, I think, right now. My grandfather Bowman owned quite a bit of property in Durango at one time. The Silver Panic of 1892-93 apparently put him on his 'uppers' for several years, but he did open a bookshop and a stationary store circa 760 Main Ave. (in the same building that is the Seasons Restaurant today). I have pictures of it, and it still has the same ceiling I think. He ran that store until he died in 1923. He died during his lunch hour at home. I've learned more about my grandfather, T.E. Bowman, from books written by Allen Nossaman; who wrote an incredible history of Silverton, CO. Allen has come to this house. I've furnished him with pictures of my granddad. His three volumes that he's published so far on Silverton are extremely detailed. Much is derived from newspapers and courthouse records, land records and family photographs. And, I think I know more about my grandfather's history than my mother did through the efforts of Allen Nossaman. My grandfather, he was in the Civil War. He was very young, of course: he was born in 1846 and the war started in '61. He enlisted in 1864, in the spring, with a volunteer Wisconsin �Page 4 of6 infantry battalion. He was underage. He allegedly lied about his age and said he was over 16. He eased his conscience by writing on a piece of paper that he was 16 putting it in his shoe, and swearing that he was 16. I have pictures of him in his uniform, which was way too large. But, he served as a drummer boy. At the end of his enlistment he reenlisted in an artillery outfit in late '64. He served primarily around Washington, D.C. I don't think he was in any major battles. But he was a member of the Durango chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic-the G.A.R. I think he was one of the founding officers of it. When he died, my grandmother applied for and received a Civil War pension. It wasn't very much, maybe $12 a month or something like that. After getting out of the Army he literally had to be adopted by an uncle named 'Bowman'. My grandfather's birth name was Thomas Merritt Dibley. Now, 'Dibley' somehow disappeared from the picture, and left my granddad's mother's side. In his early life he married a girl named Josephine Standish in Wisconsin; who is purported to be a relative of Miles Standish. They moved to Silverton. She taught school there. They spent some winters in Denver, some time in Denver. This was after the train was completed, and in those days it was not hard to get to Denver: grab the train in Silverton to Durango, through Ignacio, Pagosa, Chama, Alamosa, and onto the main standard gauge up to Denver. So, people got around a lot more quickly than people realize. She caught Scarlet Fever in Denver, and died I believe on Christmas Day circa 1889. He buried her in the Riverside Cemetery in Denver; which at that time was quite a nice cemetery at that time. She's buried about 30 ft. from Augusta Taber (who was the first wife ofH.A.W. Taber-one of the silver kings of CO). Strangely when she died, my grandfather bought four cemetery plots. I have the deed for them today, and I'm guessing that they're still valid. In case anyone needs cemetery plots in Riverside Cemetery, I can furnish three more. After moving to Durango, he was in the First Baptist Church he and my grandmother, I think, met at some choir function around 1890. Her name was Etta Louisa Summers. He was the master of the local Masonic Lodge #46; he was about the eighth master of that lodge. My grandfather Wiseman, on the other hand, moved to Denver after his divorce. Built a house there and worked for the railroad as a master carpenter. He worked in D. & R. G. [Denver and Rio Grande] shops for the rest of his life. He died in 1945. I went deer hunting with him once. Two or three months before he died he was down here visiting us. We have since visited some of our 'roots' in North Carolina. My father worked for H.C. Biggs and Company here in Ignacio. Later, in 1940, he bought out a fourth of it, and in 1950 bought the rest of it. He changed the name to 'Wiseman Hardware and Lumber Co.', and that's what it remained until I sold it to Glenn Walker in 1992. Walker subsequently changed it to 'Walker's True Value', and moved down south of town and built a new hardware store. *** The reason my grandmother [Etta Louisa] came to CO was that her older sister (Kate Summers) was living in Durango. Her husband was a Methodist minister. My grandmother had �Page 5 of6 become enchanted with a musician in Shelby, Ohio. Her father [Daniel B. Summers] wanted to get her out of that influence, and so decided to send her to CO. *** I studied Business Administration at the University of Denver. BS/BA I think is what my degree said: Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. We sold everything except groceries: tractors, mowing machines, washing machines, various name brands, sold all. *** My oldest daughter is married to David Germer, whom she met at school in Denver. They were married in 1976. He was a graduate of Colorado School of Mines. He had come :from Pennsylvania to go to school at Mines, took a look at the mountains and never looked back. His career took them to Alaska, where they've lived for about 15 years. My other daughter (my middle child, my youngest daughter), Loretta, married a fellow from Florence, CO whom she met at school in Canyon City. He graduated from UNC (University of Northern Colorado at Fort Collins) as a mechanical engineer, and now works at power plant operations in Wyoming. Neither grandchild grew up here [in Ignacio], and none of the four [grandchildren] has spent much time here. *** Lots and lots of stories, good heavens. The people I have known here, in Ignacio, are some of the most colorful. Some of the stories ... For example, the young lady in the late 30s who was a teacher here, and who married a young man a southern town in CO. He went off to war, she moved to California during the early part of the war with their child. She met a fellow named Gimbal, and the rest is history. She sent off a 'Dear John' letter to her husband, and said Mr. Gimbal is the light of my life. (Of course, his $60 million bank account helped.) Little stories like that. Stories of making the movie Around the World in 80 Days [in Ignacio] ... fascinating. Some of the Historical Society's photos now show some of that filming done. Paul Harvey doing his great radio show from here-a lot of people don't even know that ever happened. That in itself could fill at least four chapters in a local history book. *** M.M.: "What are your views on the current [presidential] administration, and our actions in Iraq?" T.W.: "I think that we're doing exactly the right thing. Those who don't remember World War II, and I wasn't in it (I was too young, I was 11 when Pearl Harbor happened), forget a fellow named Neville Chamberlain who was trying to make peace with Hitler. He said, after meeting with Hitler and before Hitler invaded Poland, 'Peace in our time, to Hitler marches all.' They forget what was not done to stop the Nazis, during WW II, from slaughtering for their [the Jews'] teeth, for their fillings in their teeth. We forget that we were the ones who said, 'Damn the torpedoes!' a couple hundred years ago. Or, the �Page 6 of6 people who said, during WW II, 'Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition!' We're the ones who sent 20 year olds over to England to fly bombers in WW II, and now most 20 year olds couldn't find the bathroom if you didn't hold their hand to it, in my personal estimation. Am I bitter? Yeah. Angry? Yeah." M.M.: "What are you bitter about?" T.W.: "I'm bitter about these people that don't realize how many of their parents and grandparents, previous generations, who fought and died and killed so that they could spend the last 20-30 years lofting along having no problems at all, except to complain about the price of cigarettes. *** Calvin Coolidge, who was president in the late 20s, said, 'the business of America is business.' Doesn't that sound terrible [sarcastically]? That which makes profits and things like that? You know, 'profits' is not a four-letter word, surprisingly. But, look at what has happened in China. 20 years ago, in the streets of China, all you would have seen were padded olive drab uniforms walking around with glassy eyes. Now, after the cold-hearted glance of capitalism started to show, and the individual is able now to see that he came make himself and his family more comfortable, healthier, is happy. It's even happening in Vietnam. Business: the horrible word [said sarcastically]. Interviewed by Michael G. Miller, VISTA volunteer, for the Ignacio Historical Society. December 18, 2003 � 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 Michael Miller Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-2004 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of twelve biographies written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller of prominent people in the Ignacio community. Based on interviews conducted by Miller between December 9, 2003 and March 15, 2004. Some contain the additional attribution "for the Ignacio Historical Society." Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Miller, Michael G. 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 Tom Wiseman Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-12-18 Subject The topic of the resource Wiseman, Tom; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Tom Wiseman written by VISTA worker Michael Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on December 18, 2003. 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 Wiseman, Tom Extent The size or duration of the resource. 6 pages