People

: Sammye Meadows; Contributor to "Out of the Blue and Into the Sun," (source: Out of the Blue and Into the Sun: A Gunnison Valley Journal)

: Samuel "Jess" E. Winterburn; A builder and contractor who also planed his own lumber. He was born in Ohio to Samuel Maurice Winterburn, a carpenter, and Emma J. Winterburn, a homemaker. He married Olive Mussellwhite in 1896. Together they lived in Kansas and then in Otero, Colorado before moving to Mesa County. In his shop between 7th and 8th Streets on the north side of Main Street, he built all the windows, doors, staircases and other parts of the homes and buildings that he constructed. He built the Avalon Theater, and added a five-story addition to the Grand Valley National Bank. He also built the Majestic Theater.

: Samuel "Sam" Sedalnick; He was born to Max and Sarah Sedalnick, Jews who immigrated from Poland in 1886 and 1889, respectively. US Census records show that his father was a bottle merchant. His mother was a homemaker. Sam was involved in both wrestling and softball as a young man. He served as a private in the US Army during World War I. He married Bessie Cook on February 19, 1918. The 1920 US Census record shows that he was a dry goods manufacturer. By 1930, he was involved in the women’s garment industry. They moved to Grand Junction in 1930, where he and his wife owned and operated the L Cook Jewelry and Sporting Goods Company. He was a lifelong avid golfer.

: Samuel H. "Sam" McMullin; He was born in Pennsylvania to Samuel H. McMullin, a minister, and Isabella McMullin, a homemaker. US Census records show him living in Grand Junction, Colorado by 1900, when he was thirty-two. There, he lived with his wife, Rella (Hall) McMullin and their children. According to local historian and professor Don MacKendrick, McMullin was an attorney who practiced in town by the 1880's. For a time he served as the District Attorney for Mesa County in the early Twentieth Century. He also began the Home Loan and Investment Company and served as its president. He later passed the company onto his son, Howard McMullin, who had been working in the company in different capacities for years.

: Samuel James Hamilton; He was born in Ohio to Harvey A. Hamilton and Jane Hamilton. The 1880 US Census record lists his father as a huckster. His mother was an Irish immigrant and homemaker. Samuel Hamilton, then age 24, was working in a car shop. According to his daughter, Cordelia (Hamilton) Files, he was married and had a daughter named Edna by that marriage while still living in Ohio. He moved to Mesa County, Colorado sometime before February 18, 1893, when Colorado marriage records show that he married Martha Evelyn Newbury. Hamilton was homesteading in the area, as were Newbury’s parents. Together, Samuel and Martha lived on a homestead north of Fruita. They left the area and returned to Ohio to care for Samuel’s sister and mother. Samuel bought a home at 15 South Peach Street in 1904, after their house in Ohio burned (his wife and children were already in Fruita on a visit at the time). He worked as a house painter and wallpaper hanger and was one of the best, according to his daughter Cordelia. He was also a drinking man, she said, who spent much of the money he made on booze.

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