This little history of the early days of Mead, was written by Homer L. Gammill to a teacher at Mead Junior High in 1978. Homer Gammill died four years later in Arizona, July 1982 .

I have finally finished the bit of writing I promised to do about my "remembrances" of Mead. There is far too much here for your use, but I discovered, once I had started, that it was a great deal of fun to remember so I just went on and on. I tried, however, to be fairly accurate when it was necessary to tie to dates. I believe them to be reasonably accurate. If in doubt I tried to be sure and qualify it with "I believe" or "about". And, these will all be verifiable form other sources.

In regard to people, I tried to mention all the names I could remember. At least these will give you additional references. I also related some of the things I remembered as impressive to me, but did leave out such things as the time the constable picked up a bunch of us for stealing watermelons and kept us waiting all day to hear the verdict.

I hope that I managed to give you something useful for your project. It is a big one, but one that will be interesting and a great many people will appreciate your efforts. Be sure and keep me on your list for a later report, and a view of the finished product. Also, if I can be of further help do not hesitate to ask.

Very truly yours,
Homer L. Gammill.

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Following is the information Homer sent.

F. I. "Finis Isgrig" Gammill, my father, came to Mead, Colo., in January, 1911. Weather had been unkind to his farming venture when a killing frost in August, 1910 ruined his potato crop and left him in financial difficulty. he came to Mead to finish the school year as Principal and teacher of the upper grade in the two room school which stood just where the road from the North came into town.

In September 1911, Mother was moved to Mead and we rented a little white house one block east of the United Brethren Church. At this point I began the second grade and Mrs. Fuller was my teacher. I remember that she had a daughter named Louanna, and I believe that Mrs. Fuller was related to Billy Hurd. My little brother, Kenneth, was one year old. During the winter my mother taught at the Pleasant Hill school and drove a horse and buggy every day.

In the Spring there were two important events in our family. Father purchased a house directly back of McCormick's General Store, and we purchased a Maxwell automobile. This was a 1908 model, two cylinder, red, "run-about" with no top. I imagine it was sold to my Father by Floyd Clymer. Floyd's father, Dr. Clymer, was a physician who practiced in Mead for a time and moved to Berthoud. Floyd was an automobile and motorcycle racer when he grew up, and in a book he published in later years he said that he sold Maxwell cars in Berthoud. at age eleven. He gave the dates as about 1911.*1

During the school year 1912-1913, my father taught in Mead and Mother taught the   Highlandlake school. She walked across the fields each day. Since in those days teachers were certified by examination only, it was felt necessary to go to summer school and work toward a college degree. Dad took us to Denver on two occasions, (summers of 1912 and 1913) while he took course in "Manual Training". Both he and Mother spent numerous summers in Greeley Teacher's College. (It became Colorado State Teacher's Collage during those years.)

For the school year 1913-1914, Father went to Cripple Creek to teach Manual Training in the schools of Cripple Creek and Victor and my mother taught in the Mead School. One year was enough for Dad in Cripple Creek and he came back to Mead permanently. From then until the spring of 1920 both parents taught in Mead. Father obtained a position in Simla, Colo and we moved there during the summer of 1920. Dad became Supt. of Schools in Simla and we spent several years there.

In those days, in small towns, church and school were the main centers of social activity, (at least for sober citizens, and Mead was pretty dry and sober), so my parents were active in the United Brethren Church. Among our valued possessions is a silver tea service, inscribed:

Presented
Mr. and Mrs. F. I. Gammill
in appreciation of their work in
the church
Mead                                 Colorado
Aug. 23, 1920

This will obviously be passed onto another generation of the Gammill family.

Somewhere about 1915-16 the movement for consolidation of the school districts was under way, and, of course, my father was deeply involved in that. I do not know just what districts were involved beside Pleasant Hill and Highlandlake, but we did draw children from East of town. Mrs. Bill Nygren, (in 1978) told me that her Grandfather Peters would have been on the school board during that time.

The new school was completed during the year 1917-1918 and the new school auditorium that Spring. We really moved into the new building in the Fall of 1918 and I went to the 9th and 10th grades there. I was a bit sad to discover, in 1978, that the school had been torn down.

There are of course many things which one remembers. There were operettas at school, box socials, Christmas trees at the Church, and numerous picnics. It seems to me I spent a great deal of my summers hoeing the garden, picking sweet peas, and helping can food for the winter. However, there were a few rather "big" events. When they laid the old wooden pipes, and built the stand pipe on the hill, so that water could "run" in town, we felt we had improved. Of course, running water in our house was a faucet over a bucket on the table, but it was simpler than carrying it from the cistern. Besides, we didn't have to wait for the "good" water to come down the ditch to fill our cisterns, We were equally impressed when electricity arrived. Our lights were bulbs hanging in the center of the room, but this was an improvement over oil lamps. We had quite a celebration of the end of World War 1 Armistice. The Blacksmith carried a couple of anvils into the street, and with the aid of black powder, "shot" the anvils by way of creating a proper noise.

There are, of course, a great many miscellaneous memories. The house we lived in was directly behind the McCormick General Store, which became a garage I believe. The store was managed by J. E. Kitts, for W. H. McCormick of Berthoud. Mr. Kitts later opened the bank on the corner north of the McCormick store. When Mr. Kitts left the store, Jay Doke came in to run it. he was the son-in-law of W. H. McCormick. Mr. Kitts and my father had the agency for Maxwell automobiles for some years.

The Maxwell had become a shinny, black, four cylinder automobile by then. The enthusiastic owners of these "magnificent" machines even organized a big picnic for which we toured to Denver and spent the day in City Park.

The Peter's family was prominent in Mead. Josephine was a year or two ahead of me in school, and I remember Carl as "grown" although I was so young that he really may not have been so very old. John was the same age as my brother Kenneth. Carl was sent to Longmont to attend high school which was regarded as "quite a thing" by the rest of us.

Mr. White purchased the house we lived in and remodeled it extensively. My brother always delighted in recalling that in the second grade Rougen White and Phoebe Doke were his" girl friends".

Dr. Dillingham was our physician,. and his son Roger was a playmate of mine. Mr. Tyson ran the Lumber yard and his son Ray was my buddy about the 5th and 6th grades. The Snider's ran the Drug Store and Post Office. Saxton (later called Jeff) was a friend of mine thru grade school. he later had a store in Berthoud, and I believe he now lives in Grand Lake, Colo.

Mr. Brust published the weekly newspaper, called the Mead Messenger I believe. Billy Hurd managed the elevator and I think also the beet dump. We attended United Brethren Church, but I do not recall the names of the pastors during those years, My grandfather, J. H. Milholland, a retired Cumberland Presbyterian minister came to live in Mead for two or three years until his death, and I remember that he would occasionally preach in our church.

Among the people I remember are Harley Markham, Marion Backstrom, Chuck Brossman, Harold Mudd, Viola Mudd, Ethel Markham, Alberta Akers and Gail Akers. These were all "kids" in school when I was. Harley Markham now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, but I could tell you nothing of the others. The Kitts children: Pauline, Lewis, Maxine, Raymond and Jess jr., I knew quite well. I believe that Bill Doke still lives around Mead, but he was quite young when we left and I hardly knew him. his sisters Annabelle and Phoebe were more nearly my age. Of the older people, I remember some of the families with whom my folks were particularly friendly. Mr. & Mrs. J. E. Kitts, (Jess and Mollie) were particularly good friends. Then there were Mr. & Mrs. I. J. Doke, the Graham family at Highlandlake, Olson's North of town and the Ben Reese family out south.

To finish a bit of my family. Father and Mother moved to Simla, Colo., where he became Supt. and Mother taught eighth grade. From Simla, they moved to Arriba, Colo. for a couple of years, to Flagler, where my brother graduated from High School, and finished their careers in Berthoud, Colorado. Dad was Supt. of Schools (Berthoud) there and Mother finished as an eighth grade teacher. Incidentally, by the summer school route, my father obtained a masters Degree and my mother an A. B.

I graduated from Simla Union High School and attended Colorado State Teachers College in Greeley, (now the University of northern Colorado). Following graduation, I taught in the Public Schools of Lincoln, Nebraska. During World War ll, I taught at Arkansas A & M college and was Training Director for RCA-Victor Division, in Bloomington, Indiana. I worked for a time as Personal Mgr. for Gardner-Denver CO., in Quincy, Illinois and then moved to the university of Illinois in Urbanna-Champaign, Illinois. I obtained my Ph. D. degree from the University of Nebraska in 1952, and retired from the Faculty of the University of Illinois in 1972.

My brother, Kenneth graduated from High School in Flagler, Colorado and attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, NB. He majored in Journalism and after graduation worked on newspapers in Nebraska and Colorado. His reserve commission was activated in World War ll, and not long after his discharge in 1947 he was called to active duty. As a result he remained in the Army until his death on the eve of his retirement in 1971. He would have retired as a Colonel.

Homer L. Gammill

July 15, 1978

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