Actually, Pueblo had four governors

Orman	Adams	Talbot	Johnson

DENVER - Did you know Colorado has had three governors from Pueblo? That was a question posed by this column a week ago. Come to find out, Pueblo has had four, not just three, governors of this great state.

The one missed last week was Raymond H. Talbot, who served as Colorado's 27th governor for all of 10 days, from Jan. 2 to Jan. 12, 1937.

Talbot was lieutenant governor under Democratic Gov. Edwin C. Johnson, who resigned 10 days before the next governor was to be sworn in so that "Big Ed" could take a U.S. Senate seat to which he was elected in November 1936.

"Talbot was sworn in to finish up the work of Johnson's administration," according to a Colorado state archives biographical sketch.

"His duty was to carry out Johnson's program for those few days and to coordinate it with Teller Ammons, the incoming governor. He delivered a brief message to the incoming Legislature for Sen. Johnson."

Johnson, by the way, served three times as governor (1933-37, 1950-51 and 1955-57) between stints as a U.S. senator from Colorado.

Interestingly, Alva Adams of Pueblo also was governor on three separate occasions between 1887 and 1905. Pueblo's other two governors were James B. Orman, from 1901-1903, and Walter W. Johnson, for nine months during 1950-51. Adams and Orman were elected; Johnson and Talbot were lieutenant governors who became governors to fill vacancies in the office.

More about the forgotten Ray Talbot: He was born on Aug. 19, 1896, in Chicago and was a year old when his parents moved the family to Pueblo.

Talbot worked as a telegraph messenger boy, a crane man and switchman in his youth. He went to work for Southern Colorado Power Co. in 1920, becoming public and industrial relations officer for the utility in 1930.

He was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1926 and to the State Senate in 1928.

State archives are a little confusing after that. Colorado state law apparently allowed people to hold more than one elected office in those days. Talbot's biography had him serving as both a senator and/or lieutenant governor while also being elected Pueblo's city commissioner of parks and highways five times between 1932 and 1946.

Then, Talbot became Pueblo postmaster and served for eight years. He was active in the Colorado State Fair, serving on the Fair Commission for 24 years and as its president from 1931-53.

"He helped the Fair grow from an event which attracted 20,000 people to the modern attraction it has become, drawing crowds more than 10 times that size," reported state archives. "Talbot was able to eliminate the $165,000 deficit against the Fair . . . During his years in the Legislature, he fought for increased state support of the Fair."

In more recent times, as well, Pueblo legislators have been called upon to help the State Fair out of debt and to gain more financial support. It's true, at least when it comes to such venerable institutions as the Colorado State Fair: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Tom McAvoy was chief of The Chieftain’s Denver bureau until early 2004 and then served on the paper's editorial board.

Edited by Jack Selway