Berthoud Weekly Surveyor November 28, 2013 Page A5 The historical society and Mark French are interested in obtaining and copying old photos from Berthoud’s past. Please contact Mark at 532-2147 if you have any photos you would like to share.
A LOOK AT BERTHOUD
There’s a story behind the farmers’ law class story E very “Tale of the Little Thompson” begins with a photograph. Readers of this column may have noticed that over the past year many of these “Tales” have been based on photographs that were taken in the 1950s and ‘60s. That’s partly Surveyor because I have Columnist started to tap a large collection of press photos that Berthoud Bulletin publisher Rolland Fletcher Sr. donated to Berthoud Historical Society founder Helen McCarty-Fickel Mark several years French ago. Fletcher produced the local newspaper
from 1951 to 1969, so his archive of images included hundreds of photographs of local subject matter taken over a span of nearly two decades. A few weeks ago I selected one of Fletcher’s press photos for an article about a night class offered to local ranchers and farmers. Since I pushed my deadline to the last minute, I didn’t provide myself with time to talk with anyone who might help me identify the men who appeared in the photograph that accompanied the article. Since that time I’ve fielded several questions and phone calls inquiring about the identities of those ranchers and farmers, many whom I still know or remember from my boyhood in Berthoud. I should also mention that I accompanied my father, a local dairy farmer, to one of the classes because, at the age of nine years, I was considered too young to remain home alone at night. I was allowed to drive a pickup at that age, however, but that was considered a mat-
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ter of necessity. While I didn’t pay much attention to what happened in the class I remember sitting at the back of the room and keeping very quiet because that was what I had been directed to do. I recall Floyd McCormick, the Berthoud High School vocational agriculture instructor who organized the class, but he is not pictured in the photo. I haven’t forgotten that the one-hour class seemed to go on for days and that when the session was finally over I felt like I had been freed from jail. While the identity of every man in the photograph is still up in the air, many readers of this column will recognize Frank Starkey, the attorney who taught the class, sitting on a desk at the left side of the photo. The article that originally appeared in The Berthoud Bulletin identified him as an attorney from Loveland, but longtime residents will recall that Starkey eventually relocated his family and law practice to Berthoud where he remained for several years. The seven ranchers and farmers who have been identified thus far include Dale Kiehn, Keith Littrell, Victor Griep, Don Meining, Gene Bashor, Howard Malchow and Don Meining. That leaves
Photo courtesy of the Berthoud Bulletin Collection, Berthoud Historical Society In 1961 Berthoud area ranchers and farmers assembled at Berthoud High School for a night class that provided information on farm law. From left to right: Attorney Frank Starkey, sitting on front desk; Dale Kiehn, dressed in white shirt and seated under “Master Farmer” plaques; Keith Littrell, leaning back in folding chair; Victor Griep, seated to the right of the door and dressed in plaid shirt; Don Meining, seated at the left side of the table at front of classroom; Gene Bashor, seated at middle of table at front of classroom; Howard Malchow, dressed in plaid shirt and seated behind Meining and Bashor; Wilfred Meining, seated at the right side of the table at front of classroom.
five men unidentified, but I expect that once this article is published and the photograph is captioned I will get help
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putting names to the remaining faces. One reader of this column who resides in Denver also called to ask if I knew whether the law course helped the men become successful farmers. Since Dale Kiehn, Vic Griep, Gene Bashor and Howard Malchow farmed in the Berthoud area for many years beyond 1961, the answer would be yes. Brothers Don and Wilfred Meining continue to be engaged in farming, but eventually relocated to the Platteville and Wheatland, Wyo., areas respectively. Keith Littrell left the Berthoud area in the early 1960s to farm at another location in Northern Colorado. One of the perils of writing about Berthoud in the 1950s and ’60s is that there are always several readers of this column who know much more about what I am writing about than I do. After considerable thought I have decided not to be concerned with that and field the comments and questions that will invariably come my way. After all, the aim of this column is to preserve the heritage of Berthoud and the Little Thompson Valley, and every snippet of information that is gathered helps fulfill that mission. My number is in the phone book.