Eliseo "Lee" Gallegos was born October 23, 1912 in Chacon, Mora, New Mexico, USA to Juan Jose Gallegos and Bernadita Gallegos (Romero). He was the eldest of ten children. Lee was a Roman Catholic and was baptized in the church on November 12, 1912 in Chacon, Mora, New Mexico, USA. Lee had an eighth grade education. At the age of 16, he began working for Seaverson Livestock near Rawlins, Carbon, Wyoming, USA where he worked from 1928 to 1943. When he was 17 years old, Lee was noted in the 1930 U.S. Census as working as a sheepherder with his father, age 45; and a third person, Massedonia Sandoval, age 30, in a rented wagon in Saratoga, Carbon, Wyoming, USA. In conversation with Lee while touring the Carbon County Museum, he stated that he lived and slept in a covered wagon like the one in the museum when he worked as a sheepherder. At the age of 27, on January 4, 1940 in Chacon, Mora, New Mexico, he married Celina/Selina "Sally" Martinez. In the 1940 U.S. Census, he was married living with his in-laws and working as a foreman on a farm. With marriage, Lee became a father to his wife's youngest sibling, Nora, who was being raised by his wife after their mother had died. In June of 1943, Lee enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fort Francis E. Warren in Cheyenne, Laramie, Wyoming, USA and worked in a petroleum engineering unit in the Pacific during World War II. After being discharged from the U.S. Army on February 10, 1946, he worked for the Union Pacific Railroad as a section person and later retired from the railroad on January 3, 1975. His wife, Sally, died of cancer on November 1, 1972 and he remarried to Rachel Harriet Newman on August 18, 1973 at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Rawlins, Carbon, Wyoming, USA with John Meyer as the priest and E.J. Steenson and Roberta Wilson, sister of the bride, as witnesses. Both wives had worked for the City Steam and Laundry. After Sally died, the parish priests introduced Rachel and Lee to each other. Rachel had been working in the church rectory as the cook and maid and had recently converted to Catholicism. In Rawlins, he lived at 307 West Center and drove a black El Camino. Lee was fluent in Spanish, active in the local Hispanic community, and produced the Spanish music radio program on KRAL in Rawlins on Sunday afternoons. Lee was a parishioner at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Rawlins. He also joined the Moose Lodge and enjoyed playing bingo. In retirement, he had been appointed a member of the Governor's Committee on the Elderly. Lee was a member of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Lee loved his small, black, poodle named Pepper and fed him freshly cooked and chopped steaks for dinner. One time on a trip when Pepper was not allowed at the home of a relative, he slept in the car with his dog. Lee was a life-long smoker. Due to a stroke, he transitioned to the Park Manor Nursing Home in Rawlins, Carbon, Wyoming, USA and died there on April 14, 1995. Four days later on April 18, 1995, he was buried in the Rawlins cemetery with his wife, Rachel, joining him by his side ten years later. The funeral mass was held at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph's Catholic Church with priest, Malcolm Reid, as celebrant. Rostad Mortuary facilitated the burial in plot 82 (711). He was 82.

Note: Lee's published obituary in the Rawlins Daily Times newspaper in Rawlins, Carbon, Wyoming, USA indicated that he was preceded in death by his daughter, Anna Dell; however, I do not have information about her. Further, the marriage certificate for Lee and Rachel Gallegoes noted that he had been married three times; however, I do not know any information about his first wife and their marriage.