People

: Verne Lewis Judson; He was born in Barre, Vermont to Orin Judson and Carrie Amelia (Smith) Judson. His father worked as a stone polisher in Vermont. His mother was a homemaker. The family lived briefly in Iowa and then, due to hopes that the climate might improve his mother’s help, moved to Mesa County, Colorado in 1904, when Verne was about five years old. They settled in the Pomona area, where they farmed and he attended school. He began irrigating at the age of eight years old. In order to find better farm land, Verne and his parents moved to Loma, Colorado on March 1, 1919. There, they leased land from Loma Securities, owned by Verner Z. Reed, and eventually purchased 80 acres, with 13 added later on. The 1950 US Census record shows him as single, never married, and living with his mother in Loma. He retired from farming on October 22, 1965, when 25 acres of corn he had planted did not mature. Bill Grey bought the Judson’s land, followed by Ray Filer and then Alex Reed. Verne Judson was allowed to live in the same house on his former land, where he had resided since 1922. He played snare drums in an orchestra and was paid anywhere from $2 to $10 a night for his efforts. He was a member and sometimes board member of the Farmer's Union, the Fruita Coop, the Potato Growers Association of Mesa County, the Bean Growers Coop, and the Mesa County Union Oil Company.

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