William Weiser [1880 - 1957]

Individual, Weiser_William

About

He was born in Lyons Station, Pennsylvania. His father died young of tuberculosis, putting a great strain on the rather large family he left behind. At the age of thirteen, William was sent to be reared by his uncle, William Moyer, in Grand Junction, Colorado. He attended public school in Grand Junction through high school and went on to Colorado College and received his degree in 1898 (he was a classmate of Grover Rice). He graduated from Stanford’s Law School in 1902 with a license to practice law in the state of California. He returned to Grand Junction and entered into a partnership with Mr. Wheeler, an older lawyer in the city. In 1914, he was elected DA in Mesa County. He served in the Colorado legislature for a time. He was president of the Grand Valley National Bank for seventeen years. After the bank’s closure in 1933, he opened his own law office on Fifth and Main Streets with Gene Mast as a partner. He was the President of the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce in the 1920's and brought Wyatt M. Wood from Texas to assume the Manager position for the Chamber. He was an expert on water law in his private practice and with William Fry of the Grand Valley Drainage District, he was instrumental in including all of Mesa County's municipalities under the District's umbrella, allowing for their taxation and District funding. For a time during the 1930's, he quit practicing law and took up sheep ranching in order to settle debts in the estate of Billy Fitzpatrick, a sheep rancher who had died suddenly. In 1922, he married Edith Florine Turner and adopted her son, Albert, from a former husband. With Edith and Albert, he was an early settler of the Third Fruitridge area in Pomona. He served as president of the Rotary Club, was a Mason, Odd Fellow, and Elk’s Lodge member. He was on the state highway board for many years, and enjoyed traveling with his family around the state, examining highways for needed improvements.

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