People

: Bertha I. Schlegel; She was born in Windsor, Colorado to German immigrants from Russia. She was one of eight children. The family moved to Loma when she was a young girl to raise sugar beers for Holly Sugar. Bertha worked in the fields, thinning and raising beets. Their family raised most of their own food and were big into pickling watermelons, apples, and dill pickles. The family later lived on a farm in Pomona, in the location of the current Mesa Mall. While in grade school she was a good speller, and participated in spelling bees. She could attend either Appleton High School or Grand Junction High School. Both charged tuition. She chose Grand Junction High School and graduated even though she could not afford to pay her tuition. She then attended Grand Junction Junior College while working in the Appleton canning factory for her tuition. She became a teacher in various places around Mesa County before getting her Master's degree in Greeley, Colorado at the University of Northern Colorado.

: Bertha McKeehan; Bertha was born in Lafayette, CO and married James Sterling Autrey in 1921. After James passed away in 1937, she married Charles E. McKeehan in 1938.

: Bess Hodgman; Bess was a student at H Street School in the late 19th century.

: Bessie (Cook) Sedalnick; She was born in Denver, Colorado to Harry and Ida Cook, Jews who had immigrated from Russia. Her father is listed as an engineer in the 1900 US Census and as the owner of a bathhouse in the 1910 census. Her mother was a homemaker. Bessie married Samuel Sedalnick on February 19, 1918. He was a dry goods manufacturer and later involved in the women’s garment business. They moved to Grand Junction in 1930, where together they owned and operated the L Cook Jewelry and Sporting Goods Company.

: Bessie (Kettle) Jens; She was born in Nebraska and married Henry Jens, a German immigrant. US Census records show her living in the Clifton area of Mesa County, Colorado by 1910. Together they settled on land at what is now the intersection of E and 32 Roads in Clifton, on what they called the Locust Ranch. They grew fruit. She was related to Mesa County Oral History Project interviewee Thelma (Kettle) Moore.

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