Morrison History

Remembering Jake, by Roger Poe

It seems fitting that we report here, regretfully, the passing of long-time resident Boyd Jacobson. Known by most everyone as Jake, he succumbed to cancer December 29, 1998, in Williston, North Dakota, near his original home of Bonetrail.

He and Clara, his wife of 50+ years, were involved and concerned about matters of our town of Morrison ever since they arrived in 1952. Together they raised 3 sons and 2 daughters at their humble abode on Bear Creek Lane. In the early days, that home even served as the Town Office for many years while Clara was Town Clerk. Their children all still live in the metro area, including Wayne who remains here in Morrison.

During simpler times, Jake was known as the Great Gildersleeve of Morrison, “Water Commish,” working almost single-handedly to keep our archaic water system afloat. When natural gas was introduced here, Jake was very much a part of the implementation. And, as a sheet metal guy, he gladly helped many of our citizens install their very first gas furnaces. Helping others with little more than a “thank you” was his happiness.

Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 3471 of Morrison, was and still is a viable community service organization, thanks to the hard work and leadership of Jake and his family. He held all the officers’ chairs in his rise to the ultimate rank as Department Commander in Colorado. His son Terry carries on this tradition of active service to our local post.

Jake never had an enemy. His philosophy in life was simple: to be happy no matter the adversity, and to deliver happiness to everyone around him. We will miss his holiday lefsa, lutefisk, and his hearty laughter.

Jake was buried beside Clara on Wednesday, January 6, 1999, at the Morrison Cemetery in Red Rocks. Uff da!

Reprinted from The Town Crier, Jan/Feb, 1999,
published by the Morrison Action Committee

by Roger Poe

It was a thrill recently to meet a former resident of Morrison who had moved away in 1969. He was just a guy who was looking for a residence to buy, or property on which to build. (Of course, we meet people every day with a similar design.) It was only after lengthy conversation, finding that he knew every one of our Morrison forefathers, that we realized he had been here before. He had grown up in the LaGrow house on Bear Creek Lane. He was a LaGrow, his name is Ed Drab, and he’s the son of Morrison’s hairdresser, Ed Drab Sr., who ran a shop on Bear Creek Ave. in the 1960s-70s [in the former bank building where Guiseppe’s is now located; later Mill St. Deli].

After finding out about his family tree, I showed him the “Memory Album, Morrison, Colorado,” by Lorene Horton, published in 1976. Flipping through the pages, he remembered many of the original photos and commented frequently: “that’s my aunt Bertha,” or “there’s Alex (Jordan),” or “there’s my mom when she was a child,” and “there’s Frank Baker.” And so it went, for hours!

He presently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. His personal knowledge and growing up stories of people, places and experiences were exceedingly valuable. With time, our connections with the important past are thinning.

Footnote: Museums Coordinator Sally White adds that we have also been visited recently by two other distinguished relatives. Grace (Schrock) Henderson, youngest child of Morrison pioneer Jonas Schrock (Schrock Saloon), and her daughter Joyce stopped in, and Henry Baumgartner, a descendant of John Brisben Walker, came in search of our records on our local innovator and entrepreneur. We’ll have more on their visits in a future issue.

Reprinted from The Town Crier, Jan/Feb, 1999,
published by the Morrison Action Committee

Whether or not you know you know Fred, you know Fred! Fred is a familiar sight, always on his golf cart around Morrison and Red Rocks, accompanied by his poodle, Missy. Fred is celebrating his 94th birthday on February 12th [1999], so if you see him this week, you might want to extend good wishes.

Fred was born in Rye, Colorado, in 1905, among the youngest of nine children, where his family was homesteading in a two-story log cabin. At 13, he walked over LaVeta Pass to Alamosa for his first job as a ranch hand.

Rancher, blacksmith and farrier, ironworker, all this prepared him for his later life in Morrison. After serving in World War II, Fred married Bertha Mae (Hebrew) LaGrow in 1947 and moved to Morrison. Fred joined Bertha in running the Gateway Stables, a business Bertha had previously run with her mother, Nora Hebrew. Sam and Nora Hebrew had started the donkey concession in Red Rocks when the area became an attraction in the 1880s.

When he married Bertha, Fred worked for General Iron, having been a blacksmith in the army. Bertha owned or rented pasture for cattle, horses, and burros from Indian Hills along Bear Creek all the way to Sheridan. Fred gathered hay for the stock clear to Meyers Ranch on Hwy 285, after he finished his regular day’s work at General Iron on Santa Fe Drive. One of his ironworking projects was the superstructure for the original welcome sign over Washington St. in Golden.

In her “spare” (?) time. Bertha Mae was quilter and a watercolor artist; Fred called her the “Queen of Morrison.” He has some of her pictures in his home on Bear Creek Ave., and the house is still labeled “Gateway Stables” in old, nonfunctioning neon.

Reprinted from The Town Crier, Jan/Feb, 1999,
published by the Morrison Action Committee