Horace Jay Wubben, of Colorado

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Horace Jay Wubben

Wubben sons (l to r): Hubert, Eugene, and Horace

Husband of Irene Virginia Hazlett, and father of Hazlett, Harry Eugene, and Virginia Wubben

The following is text from a typewritten memoir by his brother, J. Hubert Wubben. All typos and handwritten corrections are reproduced. [This editor's notes are in red.]

My brother- Horace Jay Wubben

by Hubert Wubben
May 24, 1974

Horace Jay Wubben, the oldest of three sons of John and Evelyn Wubben, was born Nov. 14, 1893 in Colorado Springs, Colo. He died in Grand Junction, Colo. on April 10, 1971 at the age of 77 years.

He attended the Colorado Springs public schools until the family moved to Paonia, Colorado in 1909. He graduated from the Paonia High School in 1913. I believe he was the salutatorian of his class. He played end on the football team that beat Grand Junction H.S. team 59 to 0 in 1912. He was a pretty good left handed pitcher, but due to two better men he played 2nd base and was captain of the baseball team in his senior year. While he was in high school he was very active in the Epworth L eague of the Methodist Church, but he lost much of his interest int eh church after he entered Colorado College in the fall of 1913.

He worked very hard to support himself while attending Colorado College as a night clerk in a Hotel near the campus. He also attended a furnace and took care of the lawn of a wealthy resident in his senior year. He graduated from C.C. in 1917. [here, the word "when" is crossed out] He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, an honorary scholastic fraternity. In his Junior year he became a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, w hich at that time had the highest scholastic record of any fraternity at C.C. He was a substitute pitcher on the C.C. baseball team but never played enough innings to earn a letter. He was instrumental in getting me into Beta Theta Pi when I entered C.C. in 1917.

He applied for officers' training camp at the beginning of World War I, but was not accepted, (You will remember that Eugene was accepted). Horace then decided to wait for the draft to take him into the service. After graduation in 1917 he secured a position of teacher of a one or two room country school at Lazear, Colo., near Hotchkiss, Colo. I think it was in the spring of 1918 (?) that he was drafted into the army, and became a part of a machine gun company. In those days it was called the "suicide corps". He refused to take officers' training while in the army, deciding to remain a private during the war. The war ended just two weeks before his unit was destined to go into the front line trenches. Since he was a man of excellent character he was chosen to be a Military Policeman at Marseilles France, a main debarkation camp for the returning soldiers. That kept him overseas six months longer than he intended or wanted to. One of his stories as a M.P. was that someone smuggled two prostitutes into the camp, for each of which there was a line of twenty or more men waiting their turn. Those at the end of the line had to endure a "wet deck." He had plenty of enticements to participate, but I heard him tell one man that one of the main reasons he didn't was because he would have a memory he could never erase. My own guess is that two greater reasons ruled him; his love for Irene and his moral training.

In the fall of 1919 he became a teacher in Paonia, Colo. high school. and on Dec.20,1919 he married his old time sweetheart, Irene Hazlett, the daughter of one of the medical doctors of Paonia. After teaching in Paonia for several years he went to Monte Vista, Colo. where he was principal of the high school for three years. Then he returned to Paonia as superintendent of the school system.

In 1936 he became principal of the Grand Junction High School with the understanding that the following year he would have the choice of becoming Superintendent of the Grand Junction Schools, or Pres ident of the Mesa Junior College which was just being started. The Junior College was then housed in a condemned grade school where the present City and County complex is. There were 270 students enrolled. He was instrumental in planning and building many of the buildings now on the campus, and during his 25 years as president created an institution that was highly recognized for its academic excellence. He retired as president in 1963.

During his residence in Grand Junction he received many honors. He was once president of the Colorado Education Association. He received that Association's distinguished service award in 1957, one of the state's highest honors. In 1961 he was elected president of the Council of North Central Junior Colleges. His honorary doctorate was granted by Denver University in 1961. At the time of his retirement he was presented distinguished service awards by the Rotary and Kiwanis clubs of Gr. Jct. and named outstanding Senior Citizen of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce. He was past-president of the Gr. Jct. Rotary Club and was the first district governor of the newly created Rotary District of Western and Southern Colorado. He served at various times on the summer faculties at Western State College, Adams State College, and the University of Colorado. He was a member of the United Methodist Church,Masonic Lodge,Scottish Rite, Phi Delta Kappa, Colorado School Masters, Colorado Education Association and the American Legion. His obituary appearing in the Grand Junction Sentinel, from which much of the above information was taken, and a eulogistic editorial from the same paper, are to be found in a scrap book (green covered loose leaf) which Neola has created.

My own realtionships with Horace were cordial but not intimate. After World War I we never lived close to each other except for the three years I preached in Delta and the four years I preached in Fruita. During those periods, professionally and socially we had not much in common. Irene and the JH Wubbens never hit it off very well, a fact which was due a good deal, I believe, to my own jealousy of Horace and to tempermental differences between Irene and me. And,of course, religiously,we were far apart. Until I read his obituary and the editorial in the Grand Junction Sentinel, I never really appreciated Horace's stature. As far as he and I were concerned he was always unsentimental and unemotional.

In his earlier years(during college and just after) he was quite liberal in his political and social views. But when he became president of Mesa College, of necessity, he had to work with the "establishment", and so he toned down his public utterances. He was always a democrat, I believe.

About the only time he showed any real displeasure toward me was when F.D.Roosevelt died. A special convocation at Mesa College was arranged for on a Sunday afternoon. I was asked by Miss Rait to give a eulogy of FDR. I refused for two reasons: first I was not then a great admirer of FDR, and second I felt too incapable of doing what was required. So Warren Bainbridge made a flowery speech. I don't remember what Horace said to me, but my remembrance is that he thought he was doing me a great favor which I didn't value. At any rate, I felt too insecure and inferior to do that task, and would have felt so even if I had admired the president greatly.

Horace had a keen sense of humor, although it was of a somewhat cynical nature. When he was in college, his nickname was "Funny". He used to be good at cracking jokes.

[signed] J. Hubert Wubben

Also online:

by John Hubert Wubben
My Father- Johan Wubben (written Feb.20, 1974)
My Brother EUGENE PAUL WUBBEN (April 26, 1974)

by Neola Wubben
YOUR PATERNAL GRANDPARENTS AS I KNEW THEM

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