People
Collection for person entities.
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- Frank Hickman
- He was born in England and immigrated to the United States, living first in Pennsylvania, where he was a coal miner. He worked in coal mines in the Crested Butte, Colorado area, and then moved to Mesa County. He started the first coal mine in the Grand Valley. He ran the Cameo Mine and the Mount Lincoln Mine, the latter being one of the first coal mines in the Grand Valley. He also established the Island Ranch in De Beque Canyon, current location of the Island Acres State Park.
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- Frank J. Chiaro
- The son of Italian immigrants and the oldest of nine children. He grew up on a farm in Pomona, on River Road near the Colorado River. He did not speak much English when he began his education at the Hunter School. He later attended the Pomona School, Grand Junction High School, and the Ross Business College. After his father died, he took over the family farm, helping his family earn money during the Depression. He also helped build the Monument Road over the Colorado National Monument in 1933 and 1934, and then worked for the Interurban rail line between Grand Junction and Fruita, helping to dismantle the line in 1936. His brother-in-law Charles Colosimo got him a position as a laborer in the roundhouse for Denver and Rio Grande, a job he did for five years. He then served an apprenticeship as a boilermaker. He worked as a first-class boilermaker in Salt Lake City, Grand Junction, and Ridgeway. In 1946, the roundhouse in Grand Junction was destroyed and laborers reassigned or laid off. He was out of work until 1949, when he reached the hiring age limit for D&RG and was unable to reapply for labor jobs, despite his 12 years of experience in the mechanical department. He was then rehired as a clerk, and worked in several capacities: as a baggage clerk, ticket clerk, yard checker, car checker, and finally as a mechanical clerk, ending up in the department he had worked in as a boilermaker. He was living close to the train depot during the Grand Junction train depot munitions fire (circa 1943), and witnessed live rounds shooting overhead and heard explosions throughout the night. He described thinking that the town was under attack. Chiaro married Louise Jeanne "Jennie" Cesario at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Grand Junction on December 26, 1938. They had four children. The 1940 US Census show he and Jennie Chiaro living with the Pantusos (later local restaurateurs) at 217 N. Spruce Avenue.