People
Collection for person entities.
Pages
-
- John Andrew Sigmon
- John Andrew Sigmon was born in Cambellsburg, Indiana to Charles Alexander Sigmon and Golda Oscar (Stratton) Sigman. His father was a Baptist minister. His mother was a homemaker. His family moved to Colorado around 1921, when John was nine. He attended grade school in Monte Vista and Las Animas. He went to Pueblo Central High School in Pueblo, Colorado and Converse County High School in Ault, Colorado. He lettered four times in football, and twice in baseball and basketball. He finished high school in 1931 and joined the US Navy by lying about his age (he was three years younger than the requirement). He briefly belonged to the National Guard prior to joining the Navy. He held the rank of apprentice seaman and was stationed in Hawaii, San Diego, and then New York. He began working on destroyers, but put in for transfer to submarine duty when the US joined World War II. He was stationed in Hawaii with the 42nd Army Infantry Division at the time of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. He was a skilled gunner and during the attack, he shot down a Japanese airplane. Shortly after, he became a Chief Gunners Mate on a submarine that fought in the Battle of Midway and other Pacific Theater engagements during World War II. He was on submarines that engaged in battle with Japanese forces several times. He made two submarine trips to Korea during the Korean War before leaving the Navy in 1953. At the time of his retirement he was an Ordinance Instructor. He was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, a Commendation Ribbon, and a Unit Citation for his service. After leaving the Navy he came to Grand Junction, where his brother and sister lived. He went to Mesa College for one year and entered the workforce.
-
- John Arthur Hutchinson
- Son of Major Joseph Sykes Hutchinson and Anabel McPherson, pioneer family of Chaffee County.
-
- John Arthur Kreps
- He was born in Kansas to Benjamin Franklyn Kreps and Ellen (Adams) Kreps. His father was a cobbler and his mother was a homemaker. The 1900 US Census shows John Kreps working as a farm laborer at the age of thirteen. Census records indicate that he attended school through the 8th grade. He had come to Colorado’s Western Slope by at least 1907, when Colorado marriage records show him marrying Dorothy Tufly in Grand Junction. They homesteaded in the Roan Creek area, near the homestead of John’s brother. The family moved briefly to the Appleton area of Mesa County in 1910, where John worked as a sheepherder. They then moved to the town of Atchee, where John worked on the Uintah Railway. He worked first in the shop and then worked his way up to Locomotive Engineer. Around 1919, he got a job on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and the family moved to Grand Junction, Colorado. The 1930 US Census shows the Kreps living with their two sons in San Luis Obispo, California. They had returned to Grand Junction by 1940 and census records show the Kreps being supported by a sister-in-law and nephew at that time.
-
- John B. Hurlburt
- He was born in Iowa and lived in Oregon and California before pioneering on Colorado’s Western Slope. He was an early sheep rancher in the Parachute, Colorado area. He later became a farmer.
-
- John B. Jones, Jr.
- Founder of Development Engineering, which later became the Paraho Development Organization. He was the co-inventor of the Gas Combustion Process for oil shale retorting, which was later modified into the Paraho Process. He spent some time in Brazil under Petrobrass to develop their oil shale industry, and named Paraho after the Portuguese words for “for mankind” (para homem). In the mid-1960s, he enlisted the help of Adam Reeves, who was an acquaintance from Anvil Points Research Facility under the Bureau of Mines, to get into oil shale operations again. He additionally operated three different lime calcination kilns in Rapid City, SD, and Blum, TX, which used a similar internal combustion process to oil shale retorting. Paraho leased the Anvil Points facility from the Bureau of Mines from 1972-1982, during which time they operated a pilot plant and a semi-commercial plant to determine the economic viability oil shale production. To fund this venture, they entered an agreement with 17 oil companies to each put up a $500,000 investment, including Sohio, Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company, and Arthur McKee Co. Within nine months, their semi-commercial plant was producing 200 barrels per day. He held over 25 patents before his retirement at age 87. He died March 20, 2013 in Greeley, Colorado.
-
- John B. Mann
- Early Mesa County resident and prominent member of the Republican Party.
-
- John B. Moore
- Dudley Mitchell's great-great grandfather. Father of Phoebe Ann Robinson.