Byron Leon Wilson

Byron Leon Wilson (Barney) was born September 26, 1924 at 264 East 8th Ave. in Springfield with Granny Affery assisting. He was the fourth child of Charles E. Wilson and Wanda A. McAdam. He was welcomed home by Sisters Vera, Ruth, and Brother Vernon. They lived on the Family homestead south of Vilas in the old Boston community affectionately known as the Sand Farm. Barney spent his early childhood playing with his siblings, swimming and wading in the windmill pond, chasing water dogs and helping his father and grandfather on the farm. He started 1st grade in Vilas riding the school bus into school with Opal Rutherford holding him on her lap. He remembered going into C.F. Wheeler’s dry goods store and Mr. Wheeler giving him candy. He also remembered going to see his Uncle Gus and Aunt Christina Wilson and cousins Will and Denton who lived east of Vilas and remembered being late to school and getting in trouble for that. Another time getting in trouble is when he bit Mrs. Margaret McGill, his first grade teacher on the leg after crawling underneath her desk when she was not in the room. When Mrs. McGill came and sat down, He was trapped and there was no other way out from underneath her desk. He continued going to school in Vilas until the 3rd grade. Due to hard times, the dirty thirties, and bank loan failures, the family lost the homestead farm. They packed up and moved to Walsh to the McAdam homestead. Barney started 4th grade in Walsh and continued school there through the 8th grade. He remembered spending many hours bareback on his horse herding cattle. On his daredevil side, he would climb the windmill tower, grab the tail and swing off the platform and hang in midair while his sisters would be screaming at him to get down. He did this until his dad sawed the ladder off. He also would turn up missing, so everyone would search for him. They would find him curled up asleep under sagebrush. His favorite meal was breakfast and best part was putting his hot oatmeal bowl under the fresh cream spout on the cream separator to get the fresh cream. As a small child, his sisters and brother would tease and tell him that the raisins in his oatmeal where bugs, he would pick them out and place the raisins on the lip of the bowl. The best thing about living on the farm was going to Springfield to visit Aunt Grace Rich and cousin Bob. Bob and Barney were close in age and more like brothers than cousins. Bob was actually the person who started calling him, Barney. This name stuck with Barney all of his life. Due to the hard times of the thirties and the Dust Bowl, Charley, Barney’s Dad, packed up and moved to Fairplay, Oklahoma to find work on a ranch, leaving Wanda and the kids on the farm at Walsh. Another big event in Barney’s life as a 13 year old boy, was when he got to chaperone his granddad Lucius McAdam to Washington DC for an 75th Civil War soldier’s reunion. Barney rode the train from Dalhart, Texas to Austin, Texas and met his granddad. From there they rode the train to Washington, DC. While in Washington, DC they got to see all of the national monuments and stay at the Willard Hotel. The big event of the trip was when they toured the White House and met President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Both Granddad Mac and Barney got to shake President Roosevelt’s hand. The family stayed on the farm at Walsh two more years after Charley left for Oklahoma. Barney graduated from the 8th grade at Walsh. Wanda soon got a job in Springfield as the county supervisor for the school hot lunch program. This allowed them to move from the farm into Springfield where Barney stated the 9th grade. He was excited about moving to Springfield from the farm. He got to hang out with his cousin Bob, and make many new lifelong friends. Barney got to run around with cousin Bob, chase the girls, and hang out with high school buddies. They all were rowdy and pulled a lot of pranks. Barney’s high school class was the first group of seniors to paint their year on the water tower at the city park. Of course, the high school principal and superintendent knew which group performed that prank. So, they got to repaint the water tower. The new paint did not match the old so the class number was still visible. Another fun and interesting thing they did was run their cars on the railroad track rails between Springfield, Walsh and Pritchett. By doing this the cars could be ran at high speed and not be steered. These were just a few pranks Barney and his friends did while in high school. Barney graduated from Springfield High in 1942. He decided to take trade school training in Colorado Springs for 3 months to learn sheet metal work. After trade school, he packed up and moved to Seattle, Washington and worked in a plywood mill for 9 months. He then decided to move to Los Angeles, California where his mother, sisters, brother, and brother-in-law, Leland Cook lived. Barney got a job working for a heating/air conditioning company doing sheet metal work. He later got a much better paying job working at the ship yard in San Pedro, CA just north of Long Beach. He got to use his trade school training to run air conditioning/heating ducts throughout ships that where being built. He was able to get health insurance which allowed surgical repair on abdominal hernias that debilitated him through his childhood and teen years. With World War II in full swing, he was like all young men and wanted to serve his country. He was able to do that by serving in the Merchant Marine. Barney took his basic training at Catalina Island for 9 weeks. What he remembers most was jumping off a tall pier with a life jacket into icy cold water, rowing boats, tying rope knots, and marching in a platoon. His first tour of duty was at Galveston, Texas onboard a merchant ship. He got to sail to many places throughout the world, both in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. He sailed to Hong Kong, the Marshall Islands, the Philippines, London, England, and Vancouver, Canada. Also, through the Panama Canal, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and San Francisco, to name a few ports. He always had interesting stories about living aboard ships and the places he got to see. He was proud of serving his country, and was awarded an honorable discharge from the United States Coast Guard. He served from 1943 to 1947. He returned to Baca County after his service. His first job was scooping wheat from trucks into grain bins from the bumper wheat crop of 1947. He then got a job working for Vic Christensen operating a D6 Caterpillar tractor and scraper moving dirt, leveling land, plowing/one-waying fields, building fence and many other jobs. He helped rebuild Squaw Pass west of Denver and then worked below Two Buttes Dam after the 1951 flood. While working for Vic, Barney made many good lifelong friends. Barney met up with Lela Fern Tobey one evening at the Blue Moon dance hall north of Springfield. After dating a short time, they got married in the winter of 1950. They moved to the McAdam’s homestead, started farming, raising cattle, pigs, and chickens, milking cows, selling milk and eggs. Like most farm couples, both were working 18 to 20 hours a day. Fern even got a day job at Schooley’s grocery store in Walsh to make ends meet. Along with farming, Barney still worked part time for Vic, He also leveled dirt for Turk Rutherford with Turk’s own equipment. After 4 years of hard work and farming. Barney and Fern literally starved out on that home place. This home place affectionately become known as Poverty Flats. In 1954 they had a stroke of luck, Dean Hull, their brother-in-law and Standard Oil dealer in Springfield, told Barney about the job opening for the Standard Oil Bulk Agent. Barney applied for and got the job as agent. Barney and Fern packed up from Poverty Flats and moved back to Springfield. Barney continued to farm part time and run the bulk plant full time. In 1957 Barney and Fern had saved enough money to start buying a house on Kansas Street. They moved into that house during the blizzard of 1957, they had to dig out with a dustpan and trash can. Barney and Fern also kept nieces Shawna Lee and Jana Tobey while their father, Ralph Tobey was working in Wyoming. In 1960 they had a real big surprise, they had a baby boy named Chuck. Like many father-son relationships, Barney and Chuck were inseparable. Chuck would go with Barney in the fuel delivery truck and haul oil in the pickup. Chuck always enjoyed going and being with Barney and doing things with him. In 1966 Barney bought the propane service from Clark Davis in Pritchett. This allowed Barney to expand his business and keep a full time delivery driver. In 1967 Barney had another business opportunity, he and Jay Camp bought a New Holland bale wagon. This allowed them to stack bales around the county for farmers and ranchers. A couple of years later Jay sold his half of the business to Barney. This allowed Barney to expand that business and buy two bale wagons a few years later. In 1967, Barney and Fern bought a small, pull type camper. They pulled it to Two Buttes Lake and on different trips. In 1971 Barney and Fern sold the camper and bought a two room cabin on the north side of Two Buttes Lake. The family enjoyed spending weekends at the lake all year around. In 1972, Barney brought his first boat. The boat was used at Two Buttes and many other lakes for fishing. In 1975 Barney and Fern brought a bigger house on Tipton St. and moved there. This new place allowed more room to garden and a shop for Barney to repair equipment. Barney worked for Standard Oil (Amoco Oil) 22 and 1/2 years until 1977. That is when Amoco Oil shut down their wholesale marketing division. This allowed Barney to take early retirement from Amoco. He continued to run the bale wagons until 1985 when an illness set upon him and the farm economy changed in Baca County. After retirement, both Barney and Fern started fishing together. In later years, Barney, Fern, Doyle Hopkins and Chuck would fish at Blue Mesa Lake, and Eagle Nest Lake. Barney and Fern also fished at Lake Texhoma with Tom and Vera Womack. They also fished with Eddie Ferrell at Belton Lake at Kellen, Texas. Barney and Fern’s passion became fishing in the summer and couple’s dancing, in the winter, along with antique collecting. Barney and Fern found a good lake to fish that was close to Springfield. This lake was Eagle Nest in New Mexico. They bought a trailer house there and would spend their summers going back and forth between Springfield and the lake. They continued to do this until their health declined. In 2002, they received a daughter-in-law, Karma, and two grandchildren by marriage, Kanzadie and Boomer. Barney and Fern were glad to have this addition to their family. They especially enjoyed their new great grandson Max. He made them smile and laugh a lot when he was around them. In the 1970’s, Barney served on the Springfield City Council a number of terms and as mayor pro tem. In later years, He also served on the board of Springfield West. He was glad to do his civic duty and help the community. Barney was a very fortunate man. He had many, many, good and close friends that have been lifelong friends. These friends came though the businesses Barney and Fern had. They also made friends drinking coffee, dancing, and fishing. He also made a big impact on the farm kids, while delivering fuel, by given them chewing gum. He remember being a farm kid himself and not having much gum or candy to enjoy. As the years wore on, Barney’s health started to decline and he stayed at home more. Fern passed away in 2011. This produced an even greater toll on Barney. He declined even more in the last few years. He moved to the Long Term Care Center in Springfield at the end of 2011 and lived there until his passing in March of 2015. He is missed. Barney was preceded in death by his Parents, Charles and Wanda Wilson. His wife Lela Fern, by his Sisters Vera Cook, Ruth Wilson, Brother Vernon Wilson, and several Brother-in-laws and several Sister-in-laws, and several Cousins. Barney is survived by Son Chuck and Daughter-in-Law, Karma, (Springfield, CO) Grandchildren, Kanzadie Rogers, (Springfield, CO,) and Herman Rogers II (Boomer) (Aberystwyth, Wales U.K.) and great-grandchildren, Max, Hailey, Nicole, and Jaxson. Plus many Nieces, Nephews and Cousins. And a lot of friends! A memorial service was held Saturday, May 30, at 2:00 p.m. at Maltbie Funeral Services - 265 West 8th Ave. in Springfield CO. For those who wish to express their sympathy, memorial contributions may be given to the Capital Theater either directly or by way of the funeral home.