Ralph Mason recollections
"Uncle Ralph died on Nov. 11, 1950. He had suffered from Lou Gehrig's Disease for about two years and nine months. Your dad and Aunt Jane came to Colorado to the funeral which was held in Fort Collins where he and Aunt Hazel are buried." - from an e-mail to Russ Mason from Florence Roberts (June, 2013)
Ida Frances Marshall's recollections of her Uncle Ralph:
Uncle Ralph was someone in my life from my first memories. I thought he was a special person.
My first recollection is when he and Aunt Hazel lived at the Owl Creek Ranch but that is very dim. I remember the house was quite dark; we went there late in the fall one time and then Uncle Ralph took us to see the Doners. They had geese and many cats. My parents got a black fuzzy kitten for Florence’s birthday.
During the depression, Uncle Ralph was a foreman on the WPA project to build an airport on the bluff just south of Walden. We went to see him there on the job. The airport was used for single engine, privately owned planes.
After that, the Owl Creek Ranch was sold to the Rileys and Uncle Ralph bought the Pete Monroe ranch near Rand where they lived until maybe 1948 or 49. We went to visit at the Rand ranch many times. Uncle Ralph loved to ride horses and look at the mountains and all the natural world around him. He was crazy about North Park.
After we moved to town, we had our horses near Walden for a time but that became too expensive, so we moved them to Uncle Ralph’s and went to ride them there. My horse was in an accident and a car ran over one of his hoofs, cutting part of it off. Uncle Ralph created a full body sling and kept the horse in the barn until the sore was healed. It was forever after crippled but people rode him nonetheless. Since Uncle Ralph had studied veterinary medicine at the University of Illinois, he was very good with his animals.
Ralph was friends with my mother’s cousin, Fred Donelson. They were interested in Appaloosa horses and both had some. They were sort of horse traders.
Our family had many scrumptious meals at Ralph and Hazel’s home. I particularly remember one Thanksgiving when there were lots of people there and the meal was bountiful.
Uncle Ralph was on the School Board and the high school annual when Florence Mason graduated was dedicated to him.
In the late 1940’s, Ralph developed ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). He traveled to Mayo’s Clinic, Michael Reed Hospital in Chicago, and then to Kansas City trying to get a diagnosis. He was in Chicago after I went there in 1949, I remember. Finally, the Kansas City facility made the diagnosis. Ralph and Hazel moved to LaPorte, Colorado to a small acreage where they had some cows. He died in about 195l. At the time, they said diagnosis was difficult because there so few cases in the U.S. It was sad to see the deterioration.
Uncle Ralph was someone in my life from my first memories. I thought he was a special person.
My first recollection is when he and Aunt Hazel lived at the Owl Creek Ranch but that is very dim. I remember the house was quite dark; we went there late in the fall one time and then Uncle Ralph took us to see the Doners. They had geese and many cats. My parents got a black fuzzy kitten for Florence’s birthday.
During the depression, Uncle Ralph was a foreman on the WPA project to build an airport on the bluff just south of Walden. We went to see him there on the job. The airport was used for single engine, privately owned planes.
After that, the Owl Creek Ranch was sold to the Rileys and Uncle Ralph bought the Pete Monroe ranch near Rand where they lived until maybe 1948 or 49. We went to visit at the Rand ranch many times. Uncle Ralph loved to ride horses and look at the mountains and all the natural world around him. He was crazy about North Park.
After we moved to town, we had our horses near Walden for a time but that became too expensive, so we moved them to Uncle Ralph’s and went to ride them there. My horse was in an accident and a car ran over one of his hoofs, cutting part of it off. Uncle Ralph created a full body sling and kept the horse in the barn until the sore was healed. It was forever after crippled but people rode him nonetheless. Since Uncle Ralph had studied veterinary medicine at the University of Illinois, he was very good with his animals.
Ralph was friends with my mother’s cousin, Fred Donelson. They were interested in Appaloosa horses and both had some. They were sort of horse traders.
Our family had many scrumptious meals at Ralph and Hazel’s home. I particularly remember one Thanksgiving when there were lots of people there and the meal was bountiful.
Uncle Ralph was on the School Board and the high school annual when Florence Mason graduated was dedicated to him.
In the late 1940’s, Ralph developed ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). He traveled to Mayo’s Clinic, Michael Reed Hospital in Chicago, and then to Kansas City trying to get a diagnosis. He was in Chicago after I went there in 1949, I remember. Finally, the Kansas City facility made the diagnosis. Ralph and Hazel moved to LaPorte, Colorado to a small acreage where they had some cows. He died in about 195l. At the time, they said diagnosis was difficult because there so few cases in the U.S. It was sad to see the deterioration.
From Ida Frances Marshall's Things Remembered...
"One of my dad’s brothers, Ralph Mason also lived in North Park. He was the first Mason to go there from Chicago. He had worked on a ranch on the Laramie River one summer while he was a veterinary student at the University of Illinois. Evidently he had ridden by horseback or taken the train into North Park and fell in love with the country there. He always liked it, thought it was paradise.
"He loved to show it off to his family from Illinois. Ralph and his brother Norm homesteaded at Owl Creek. Their father and Horace came out to see about the operation as their father had helped finance it. Horace stayed a while but had not graduated from high school yet so Ralph insisted that Horace return to Chicago to finish high school. He did that but soon after returned to North Park and worked with Ralph and Norm at the Owl Creek Ranch.
"After Ralph married Hazel, Horace went to the Big Horn Cattle Company and got a job. I don’t know when Norm left Owl Creek. When I remember, he had married Ila Cross and was living in California. During the depression, he came back and worked for my dad on the Hill Ranch for a year or more."
"One of my dad’s brothers, Ralph Mason also lived in North Park. He was the first Mason to go there from Chicago. He had worked on a ranch on the Laramie River one summer while he was a veterinary student at the University of Illinois. Evidently he had ridden by horseback or taken the train into North Park and fell in love with the country there. He always liked it, thought it was paradise.
"He loved to show it off to his family from Illinois. Ralph and his brother Norm homesteaded at Owl Creek. Their father and Horace came out to see about the operation as their father had helped finance it. Horace stayed a while but had not graduated from high school yet so Ralph insisted that Horace return to Chicago to finish high school. He did that but soon after returned to North Park and worked with Ralph and Norm at the Owl Creek Ranch.
"After Ralph married Hazel, Horace went to the Big Horn Cattle Company and got a job. I don’t know when Norm left Owl Creek. When I remember, he had married Ila Cross and was living in California. During the depression, he came back and worked for my dad on the Hill Ranch for a year or more."