Clyde Romero Sr.

Clyde was born in a home along the Godfrey Bottom west of La Salle, Colorado on November 20, 1932 to Joe G. and Mary J. Romero. He married Bertha Bedan on September 28, 1952 in Greeley, Colorado.

Clyde was a dedicated father and grandfather who loved his family. He liked traveling, fishing for trout, hunting pheasants, and playing in the water and snow with family members. When he was young, he worked on his father’s dairy farm while his brothers Joe, Leo and Gilbert were in the U.S. Army. Worked at Meadow Gold Dairy for 41 years. After retirement he enjoyed maintaining his home and yard. He was a very hard-working man and was raised in a Christian family.

Clyde is survived by his wife of 68 years, and his children Brenda (Timothy) Dutton of La Salle and Clyde (a.k.a. Yogi) Romero, Jr. of La Salle. He is also survived by his siblings: Jane (Stanley) Bedan, and Loyde Harold Romero of Lexington, Massachusetts, step-sister Shirley MacClusky, as well as three grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

Clyde was preceded in death by his parents and the following siblings: Sadie Romero (infant of a few months); Joe A. Romero; Leo F. Romero; Gilbert Romero; Ruth Wood; Janet Miller; and infant granddaughter Danielle Estrella Romero.

Clyde was rooted and grounded in love as instructed in Ephesians 4:17-21. His love will be missed, until we meet again!

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Clyde was a wonderful person. He was a loving husband to his wife Bertha to whom he adored and cherished in marriage for 68 years. Together, they loved and raised their daughter Brenda and son Clyde Junior. Clyde was filled with love which abundantly flowed through his soul.

He was born November 20, 1932 in a farmhouse along the Godfrey Bottom Road which is located west of La Salle. He was raised by his parents Joe and Mary in a devoted Christian home. He had three elder brothers, three younger sisters, one younger brother, a cousin whom his parents raised as a daughter, and one older sister who passed away months into her infancy and who was his parents’ first-born child.

Clyde was born and grew up during some of the hardest and most challenging times in recent history. He grew up during the era known as the Great Depression. The collapse of the stock market in 1929 brought many hardships and great suffering to the people of our nation. These effects lasted through 1939. Clyde recalled that their family did okay during these years because they lived and worked on a farm, and because of the hard-working nature of their parents and family. Their faith in God and God’s grace surely had a major role in their well-being during this trying time.

Clyde grew up during a time when there were not any luxuries as we know them today. To begin with, there was not indoor running water, there was not an indoor toilet and there was not indoor electricity. To heat your home, you either had to fuel your home with wood or coal. You had to pump your water by hand from an outdoor water pump, and you had to visit the outhouse to use the restroom. To take a bath you had to pump your own water, build a fire in the stove, heat the water, take a bath, and dump the dirty water outside. To provide lighting for your home, they used kerosene lamps. Without electricity for many years, the family used an icebox to store some perishable foods, since they did not have a refrigerator. Growing up during these times surely was not easy.

The earliest and fondest memory Clyde recalled was the day his sister Jane was born. Clyde was a little over three years old and was told to go sit on the porch. Clyde was so happy that he was going to get a younger sibling he started singing, “Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon…”

Clyde also recalled that his father used horses and mules on the many farms their family worked and lived on during his early childhood. He said that his father would go to auctions at the sale yard along 37th Street and just south of 23rd Avenue in Evans. Remnants of this property are still in existence today. Clyde also recalled going to the Berthoud area with his father using a horse drawn wagon to buy coal. He also told of an incident when their horses which pulled a load of crops into the dock tumbled into the unloading area when the chains were not unhitched from the sideboard of the wagon during the unloading process. The horses and wagon were removed unscathed.

His parent’s family moved from the Godfrey Bottom area to various other farming communities including Timnath, Lucerne, north Greeley, and east of La Salle. Clyde’s father owned the last two properties mentioned, finally ending with the La Salle farm. Clyde spoke of some of the hard work that was required, like topping beets by hand, piling beets after being topped, loading beets by hand into wagons, picking corn by hand and loading into wagons, sacking potatoes by hand and working in the potato dock in La Salle. Clyde recalled the blizzard of 1949, which produced so much snow, you could walk directly on top of the barn and the snow was as high as telephone poles all the way to La Salle. The burning of his father’s barn which was suspected to be arson caused, was also another highlight of life on the La Salle farm. Clyde helped his father build this spectacular building!

Clyde was only afforded a 9th grade education mainly because he was needed to help on the farm. Because his three elder brothers were drafted during the war with North Korea in the early 1950’s, Clyde worked on the farm with his father.

Clyde met the most beautiful and attractive young woman, Bertha Bedan at the most fortuitous place, the notorious train crossing in La Salle, while stopped by the train. They married at Our Lady of Peace Catholic church in Greeley, September 28, 1952 when Clyde was 20 and Bertha was 18. Their first home was a small, rented farmhouse one mile south of their current home. One of their memories while living there included someone entering their home while they were working at Durnell’s turkey farm. Whoever it was cooked and ate a chicken in their home and left the evidence on the table. Nobody locked their homes in those days. Our parents worked many hard laborious jobs together some of which included thinning and hoeing beets.

In 1954, Dad and Mom purchased their first home in La Salle for $5,200.00, a 672 square foot, two-bedroom house. Clyde built his own one-car garage. They were the first to own an RCA color TV. Many of our relatives came to watch television programs in color.

Clyde worked for Meadow Gold Dairy at the La Salle milk plant for one year. Later he lost his job when Meadow Gold relocated to Greeley. Our father said that if it were not for Rueben Knaub, his supervisor, he would not have got his job back at Meadow Gold. In the beginning prejudice sentiments nearly kept Clyde from fulfilling another 40 years of service for the Company. Clyde retired after 41 years of service and was a proud member of the Teamster’s Labor Union.

Clyde and Bertha lived in their modest home in La Salle until 1964. They were prompted to move when another family moved into the neighborhood. Our parents believed that Clyde Jr. was going to be corrupted by his new playmates. Rather, he was corrupted by other influences of the world. They purchased a larger home in the country, just south of the Twin Bridges, southeast of Milliken. Here Clyde enjoyed raising registered short-horned Herefords. He and his family survived two floods along the South Platte River. The first one was most devastating because it caught them off guard because they did not know what to expect. Relatives helped them move personal belongings out of the house before the floodwaters came. Fortunately, only the basement of the house suffered flooding. The family lived here until 1971.

After a brief renting period in La Salle, Clyde and Bertha built their current home where they have resided for nearly 50 years. This property was developed on two acres of what was his father’s farm close to Latham Reservoir. Clyde and his wife Bertha worked hard in their spare time landscaping, gardening, and raising livestock on the property. Since he did not have a grassy yard growing up, Clyde always made sure he had a green lawn as an adult.

Throughout his life Clyde enjoyed spending time with all his family, family reunions, Christmas celebrations at his parents’ home, traveling on occasion, taking his family camping and fishing, playing in the snow and water with siblings and other relatives. Clyde loved to eat (and drink coffee). At normal family meals he could have been viewed as the “human garbage disposal”. Nothing went to waste and seldom were there any leftovers. Unfortunately, his awesome presence normally was not shared during Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners prepared by his wife, because he opted to work these days, in lieu of a higher pay rate.

Clyde was diligent and made many wise decisions throughout his life. He took pride in ownership of everything he and Bertha owned, taking the best of care of his belongings, knowing how hard they had to work to afford nice things. He always did the best he could in all the things he did.

He always knew this life was temporary and lived it to the best of his ability. He treated all people with respect and never used foul language. In times of pain, he would only at most say “Ouch” but mostly would grit his teeth and endure, even unto death. In addition, he viewed his body as a temple of the Lord and as a result, he never smoked, seldom ever had an alcoholic beverage, was never drunk, and did not believe in having tattoos or body piercings. The greatest thing exemplified by his life was LOVE!

In the book of Mathew (6:19-21) we are instructed, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

In closing, do not forget the love that Clyde had for you and the generosity he had toward you.

From Philippians 4:8-9 The Apostle Paul writes, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”

Written by Clyde Romero Jr. and Brenda Dutton

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