Berthoud Weekly Surveyor June 19, 2014 Page A5
A LOOK AT BERTHOUD
Delivery of first Fordson tractor depicted by local painter O
n Saturday, June 21, there will be a flurry of activity at the McCarty-Fickel Home at 645 Seventh St. Not only will there be tours of the historic home, but Then & Now there will also Surveyor be a vintage car Columnist show and the unveiling of a painting that depicts a notable event that occurred in Berthoud in 1918. Michael Georges, the proprietor of Picture Mark This Custom French Framing and Interiors at 357 Mountain Ave., has created an oil painting for the Berthoud Historical Society that will be auctioned at the organization’s Pioneer Heritage Gala on Sept. 20. The subject of the painting is the delivery of the first Fordson tractor to Northern Colorado in 1918. Berthoud’s Bashor & Wray Ford Agency received the tractor at the Colorado & Southern depot on Third Street and drove it to their garage at the corner of Fourth Street and Mountain Avenue. Mr. Georges operates his shop at that location today.
The delivery of the first Fordson to Northern Colorado was chronicled by an unidentified photographer who took the snapshot that accompanies this article. The only written record of the event appeared in The Berthoud Bulletin on Oct. 18, 1918, when the Bashor & Wray Ford Agency announced, “We will get a shipment of four Fordson tractors on the 25th.” One week later, when the tractors arrived in Berthoud, the town was experiencing the first wave of Spanish Influenza that would close public places and claim the lives of several local residents. Berthoud’s distinction for receiving the first Fordson tractor shipped to Northern Colorado was far from being important community news in 1918. That year nearly every issue of The Berthoud Bulletin was plastered with rosters of young men who had been called to fight in World War I, letters they wrote home from the Front in Europe or training camps around the nation, and accounts of the Spanish Flu that was ravaging the community. On Oct. 18, 1918, when Bashor & Wray announced the shipment of the first Fordson tractors, the Berthoud newspaper noted that Milton Salomonson, one of three sons serving in the military, had died of influenza-related pneumonia while stationed at the Mare Island naval station near San Francisco. The tabloid also reported that
Berthoud’s “Favorite Mechanic 2001.” His love of cars and motorcycles continued through his retireRobert Ticha ment years. Sept. 5, 1043 — June 13, 2014 Bob is survived by his wife, Kathy, Loveland; son, Thomas (JoRobert (Bob) Ticha, 70, joined his anne), Englewood, Colo.; brother, Lord and Savior, Jesus on Friday, June 13, 2014, at the Pathways Hos- Skip (Kathy), Twin Lakes, Wis.; sister, Ginger (Rick) Brown, pice Care Center in McKee South Elgin, Ill.; sister-inHospital, Loveland, Colo., law, Cynthia (Vince) Korp, after a 12-year battle with Ft. Collins, and many nieces, cancer. nephews, cousins and wonBob was born on Sept. 5, derful caring friends. 1943, to William and Vena He is preceded in death by Ticha in Boston, Mass. On his parents. April 4, 1964, he married his A memorial service will be high school sweetheart, Kathryn Blaul, at Skokie, Ill. They Robert Ticha held on Saturday, June 21, 2014, at 10 a.m. at Prince of celebrated their 50th wedding Peace Lutheran Church, 620 anniversary this year in Arizona. E 50th St., Loveland, Colo. His ashes Bob worked as a manager for will be scattered in the mountains Jewel Food Stores in Chicago, Ill., near Cripple Creek, Colo. In lieu of until 1976 when they moved to Colflowers, Bob requested donations be orado. In 1977 he purchased the designated for Prince of Peace LuBerthoud Standard Service Station theran Church. where he worked until he retired in Friends may leave condolences for 2001. Bob cared for his customers and called many of them his friends. the family at www.kibbeyfishburn. com. He felt very honored when named
OBITUARY
Bill Peterson, whom they termed as “a stranger,” was found lying unconscious on a Berthoud sidewalk and carried to the Foresman & McCarty drugstore where he was given emergency treatment for the flu. The newspaper also contained news that John McCormick’s nephew and Mrs. John Greenwald’s son had died from the influenza. In the following weeks the newspaper was filled with accounts of several more deaths in the community — most of them of individuals in their 20s and 30s — that resulted from the flu. News of the tractors’ arrival was also obscured by a proclamation of the Colorado State Board of Health that prohibited all public gatherings, both indoor and outdoor “of whatsoever character or nature.” In October 1918, the local newspaper also contained cartoonish advertisements that depicted caricatures of the “Princes of Germany Shaking Dice for the United States” and images of Uncle Sam sending out a call for the United War Work Campaign. That advertisement included clownish pictures of the German Kaiser in various stages of retreat. The newspaper also boasted that Coloradans had collected over 125 tons of peach seeds for use in the “making of gas masks for our soldier boys.” In October 1918, Berthoud’s attention was riveted on a world at war rather than an otherwise notable event that
Berthoud Hisotical Society photo
The first Fordson tractor delivered to Northern Colorado came to Berthoud’s Bashor & Wray Ford Agency in 1918. The delivery of the tractor is the subject of a painting that Michael Georges has created for the Berthoud Historical Society. The painting will be auctioned at the organization’s Pioneer Heritage Gala that will be held at the McCarty-Fickel Home on September 20.
included the delivery of first Fordson tractor Berthoud and Northern Colorado. Georges has chosen to title his painting of the tractors’ delivery to
Berthoud, “1918: While the War Rages ... ” Against the broader backdrop of an American nation battling the Kaiser and the Spanish Influenza, that’s a fitting title.
Turner’s new principal prepares for next year By Bob McDonnell The Surveyor When the school year ended a couple of weeks ago, the students quick-
ly left the buildings. At Berthoud’s Turner Middle School, Principal Bill Siebers exited too. Siebers accepted a position as
Photo by Bob McDonnell
School may be out for the summer, but new Turner Middle School principal Derrick Martin prepares for his new assignment in Berthoud.
Laughing Ladies Quilting will be open during the Berthoud Outdoor Quilt Show.
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Thompson School District’s interim director of human resources. In Sieber’s place, the school district hired Derrick Martin. Martin comes from Sargent Junior/Senior High School in Monte Vista, Colo., where he served as principal for more than a year. Prior to Monte Vista, Martin taught in the Bayfield School District in Bayfield, Colo., and Aztec Municipal Schools in Aztec, N.M. for seven years. “I’m ecstatic to be joining the Turner family,” Martin said in a press release from the school district. “I look forward to meeting the students, parents, teachers and everyone in the community. I will greatly enjoy learning all about the school and getting to work.” Martin is not completely unfamiliar with Berthoud or Turner Middle School (TMS). His wife Amanda (Verderaime) attended TMS, along with her two brothers, Joe and Dominic. Martin’s educational achievements include a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government and International Affairs from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., as well as a master’s degree in secondary education from Adams State College in Alamosa. After graduating from college, Martin pursued his passion of government and politics, working as an aide in the United States Senate and later in the state Senate of Pennsylvania. Later, he embarked on two solo treks totaling nearly nine months through 22 countries in both Europe and North Africa. Martin and his family hope to relocate to the Berthoud area in late June so he can be ready for his first year as Turner’s principal. In a letter Martin drafted for all students, staff, parents, school supporters and Berthoud community members, Martin summed up his feelings by stating, “I can’t wait to get to work.”