People

: Wendell Dennett Ela; Husband of Lucy (Ferril) Ela. Wendell Dennett Ela was born at 640 Rood Avenue in Grand Junction, Colorado to Wendell Phillips Ela and Lucy Abby (Drake) Ela. His first childhood home, adjacent to the Excelsior Laundry, was later sold to the Daily Sentinel and torn down, although the pear tree the family had planted stayed alive for many years. His father was an early pioneer of the Glade Park area, the mayor of Grand Junction, and a longtime bank president. His mother was a homemaker. The 1900 US Census shows the family living on Main Street in Grand Junction, when Wendell D. was 10 years old. After graduating from Grand Junction High School, he attended Colorado College, where he was part of the Apollonian Club and the Assistant Manager of Kinnikinnik. He majored in Chemistry and graduated with a B.A. in 1912. Next to his photograph in the Colorado College yearbook, the editors wrote the tongue and cheek, "Reminds himself of Sir Walter Raleigh. Reminds us of Mutt." By 1920, he was working as a teller in the US Bank of Grand Junction, where his father worked. He later became a cashier and then the bank’s vice president. He married Lucy B. Ferril of Denver, sister of famous Colorado poet Thomas Hornsby Ferril, on June 15, 1914. *Photograph from the 1912 Colorado College yearbook.

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