By Bob McDonnellThe Surveyor

When the school year ended a cou-ple of weeks ago, the students quick-

ly left the buildings. At Berthoud’s Turner Middle School, Principal Bill Siebers exited too.

Siebers accepted a position as

Thompson School District’s interim director of human resources.

In Sieber’s place, the school district hired Derrick Martin. Martin comes from Sargent Junior/Senior High School in Monte Vista, Colo., where he served as principal for more than a year.

Prior to Monte Vista, Martin taught in the Bayfi eld School District in Bayfi eld, Colo., and Aztec Municipal Schools in Aztec, N.M. for seven years.

“I’m ecstatic to be joining the Turner family,” Martin said in a press release from the school district. “I look forward to meeting the students, parents, teachers and everyone in the community. I will greatly enjoy learn-ing all about the school and getting to work.”

Martin is not completely unfamil-iar with Berthoud or Turner Middle School (TMS). His wife Amanda (Verd-eraime) attended TMS, along with her two brothers, Joe and Dominic.

Martin’s educational achievements include a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government and International Af-fairs from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., as well as a master’s de-gree in secondary education from Ad-ams State College in Alamosa.

After graduating from college, Mar-tin pursued his passion of government and politics, working as an aide in the United States Senate and later in the state Senate of Pennsylvania. Later, he embarked on two solo treks totaling nearly nine months through 22 countries in both Europe and North Africa.

Martin and his family hope to relo-cate to the Berthoud area in late June so he can be ready for his fi rst year as Turner’s principal.

In a letter Martin drafted for all students, staff, parents, school sup-porters and Berthoud community members, Martin summed up his feel-ings by stating, “I can’t wait to get to work.”

Berthoud Weekly Surveyor June 19, 2014 Page A5

A LOOK AT BERTHOUD

Then & NowSurveyor Columnist

Mark French

One coupon per customer. Not valid with any other coupon or special promotion. Call for details. Must mention coupon at time of booking call. Present the coupon during time of service. Expires 7/31/14

$30 OFF A/C TUNE UP OR ANY REPAIR

A/C Tune Up Normally $98

FAN NOT ENOUGH?

Locally owned and operated in Berthoud CALL, Text or Email 970.302.2532 or visit

APlusHeating-AC.com

Laughing Ladies Quilting will be open during the Berthoud Outdoor Quilt Show.

Come see us!349 Massachusetts Ave.

10% OFF everything in the store

on Saturday, June 21 only.

On Saturday, June 21, there will be a fl urry of activity at the McCarty-Fickel Home at

645 Seventh St. Not only will there be tours of the his-toric home, but there will also be a vintage car show and the unveiling of a painting that depicts a nota-ble event that occurred in Ber-thoud in 1918.

Michael Georges, the proprietor of Picture This Custom Framing and Interiors at 357 Mountain

Ave., has created an oil painting for the Berthoud Historical Society that will be auctioned at the organization’s Pioneer Heritage Gala on Sept. 20. The subject of the painting is the delivery of the fi rst Fordson tractor to Northern Colorado in 1918. Berthoud’s Bashor & Wray Ford Agency received the tractor at the Colorado & Southern depot on Third Street and drove it to their ga-rage at the corner of Fourth Street and Mountain Avenue. Mr. Georges oper-ates his shop at that location today.

The delivery of the fi rst Fordson to Northern Colorado was chronicled by an unidentifi ed photographer who took the snapshot that accompanies this article. The only written record of the event appeared in The Berthoud Bulle-tin on Oct. 18, 1918, when the Bashor & Wray Ford Agency announced, “We will get a shipment of four Fordson tractors on the 25th.” One week later, when the tractors arrived in Berthoud, the town was experiencing the fi rst wave of Spanish Infl uenza that would close public places and claim the lives of several local residents.

Berthoud’s distinction for receiving the fi rst Fordson tractor shipped to Northern Colorado was far from being important community news in 1918. That year nearly every issue of The Berthoud Bulletin was plastered with rosters of young men who had been called to fi ght in World War I, letters they wrote home from the Front in Europe or training camps around the nation, and accounts of the Spanish Flu that was ravaging the community.

On Oct. 18, 1918, when Bashor & Wray announced the shipment of the fi rst Fordson tractors, the Berthoud newspaper noted that Milton Salomon-son, one of three sons serving in the military, had died of infl uenza-related pneumonia while stationed at the Mare Island naval station near San Fran-cisco. The tabloid also reported that

Bill Peterson, whom they termed as “a stranger,” was found lying unconscious on a Berthoud sidewalk and carried to the Foresman & McCarty drugstore where he was given emergency treat-ment for the fl u. The newspaper also contained news that John McCormick’s nephew and Mrs. John Greenwald’s son had died from the infl uenza. In the fol-lowing weeks the newspaper was fi lled with accounts of several more deaths in the community — most of them of individuals in their 20s and 30s — that resulted from the fl u.

News of the tractors’ arrival was also obscured by a proclamation of the Colorado State Board of Health that prohibited all public gatherings, both indoor and outdoor “of whatsoever character or nature.” In October 1918, the local newspaper also contained car-toonish advertisements that depicted caricatures of the “Princes of Germany Shaking Dice for the United States” and images of Uncle Sam sending out a call for the United War Work Cam-paign. That advertisement included clownish pictures of the German Kaiser in various stages of retreat. The news-paper also boasted that Coloradans had collected over 125 tons of peach seeds for use in the “making of gas masks for our soldier boys.”

In October 1918, Berthoud’s atten-tion was riveted on a world at war rath-er than an otherwise notable event that

included the delivery of fi rst Fordson tractor Berthoud and Northern Colora-do.

Georges has chosen to title his painting of the tractors’ delivery to

Berthoud, “1918: While the War Rages ... ” Against the broader backdrop of an American nation battling the Kaiser and the Spanish Infl uenza, that’s a fi t-ting title.

Delivery of first Fordson tractor depicted by local painter

Robert TichaSept. 5, 1043 — June 13, 2014

Robert (Bob) Ticha, 70, joined his Lord and Savior, Jesus on Friday, June 13, 2014, at the Pathways Hos-pice Care Center in McKee Hospital, Loveland, Colo., after a 12-year battle with cancer.

Bob was born on Sept. 5, 1943, to William and Vena Ticha in Boston, Mass. On April 4, 1964, he married his high school sweetheart, Kath-ryn Blaul, at Skokie, Ill. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year in Arizona.

Bob worked as a manager for Jewel Food Stores in Chicago, Ill., until 1976 when they moved to Col-orado. In 1977 he purchased the Berthoud Standard Service Station where he worked until he retired in 2001. Bob cared for his customers and called many of them his friends. He felt very honored when named

Berthoud’s “Favorite Mechanic 2001.” His love of cars and motor-cycles continued through his retire-ment years.

Bob is survived by his wife, Kathy, Loveland; son, Thomas (Jo-anne), Englewood, Colo.; brother, Skip (Kathy), Twin Lakes, Wis.;

sister, Ginger (Rick) Brown, South Elgin, Ill.; sister-in-law, Cynthia (Vince) Korp, Ft. Collins, and many nieces, nephews, cousins and won-derful caring friends.

He is preceded in death by his parents.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 21, 2014, at 10 a.m. at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 620

E 50th St., Loveland, Colo. His ashes will be scattered in the mountains near Cripple Creek, Colo. In lieu of fl owers, Bob requested donations be designated for Prince of Peace Lu-theran Church.

Friends may leave condolences for the family at www.kibbeyfi shburn.com.

Robert Ticha

OBITUARY

Berthoud Hisotical Society photoThe fi rst Fordson tractor delivered to Northern Colorado came to Berthoud’s Bashor & Wray Ford Agency in 1918. The delivery of the tractor is the subject of a painting that Michael Georges has created for the Berthoud Historical Society. The painting will be auctioned at the organization’s Pioneer Heritage Gala that will be held at the McCarty-Fickel Home on September 20.

Photo by Bob McDonnellSchool may be out for the summer, but new Turner Middle School principal Der-rick Martin prepares for his new assignment in Berthoud.

Turner’s new principal prepares for next year