People

: Verner Zevola Reed; He was a Mesa County real estate developer and landowner who built Grand Junction's Reed Building. He owned land in the Loma area and elsewhere. Census and city directory records would seem to indicate that he was an absentee landlord who lived in Colorado Springs, though he may have lived in Grand Junction at one time. According to Howard Shults, whose father worked as the auctioneer that sold off Reed’s land holdings, Reed was an Englishman involved in mining. He became wealthy and had a mansion near Denver. He owned some 2,000 acres of land near Loma, including the Golden Hills Ranch. His land development projects included planting hard woods and installing water systems. His estate was auctioned after his passing, and the land brought in about $3,000 per acre. According to Cora (Brumbaugh) Henry, whose parents ran the Brumbaugh hotel in Loma, Reed was a frequent visitor to the hotel, most probably while in town checking on his land holdings. He was also an historian of sorts who wrote the short book, Southern Ute Indians of Early Colorado, in 1893.

: Vernon L. "Roy" McCoy; He was born to Thomas S. McCoy and Harriet E. (Brewin) McCoy in Brooklyn, Iowa, and moved with his parents and siblings to Mesa County, Colorado in 1911, when he was about 18 years old. They lived one mile east of Fruita, and he recalled the small ranches and close proximity to neighbors, very different from the large sprawling farms of Iowa. He worked as a locomotive engineer and machinist for the Uintah Railroad and the Rio Grande Southern Railroad from age 22 (1915) to age 70 (1963). He had a small stint as an engineer on a railroad engine in the Army over in France from 1918-1919. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Odd Fellows and the Masons. He also served on the school board.

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