Dorald John Galbraith Life Sketch

Dorald was born at Lyman, Madison, Idaho on May 11, 1916, 2 months prematurely and weighing less than 5 pounds. The doctor didn't think he would survive. But his aunt, who was the midwife, took the baby from the doctor and massaged and warmed him, feeding him with an eye dropper and made him a little nest of a bed in a shoe box then put him in the warming oven at the top of the wood burning kitchen stove, improvising an incubator for him. 

He was born with a clubbed foot and leg, but the loving aunt came each day massaging and stretching the leg & foot until it finally became straight and normal. He was smaller than others his age most of his early life. When he graduated from the 8th grade, the photographer had to put a 4 inch chunk of wood under him to make him as tall as the girls in the class photo.


He was the second son and 2nd child in the family and there were four boys and 3 girls when the family was completed. He was raised on a farm where he helped with the farm chores, milking, irrigating, working with horses and cattle and other typical farm jobs. He was always adventurous and trying new things like other boys and often got himself into uncomfortable situations.


He was baptized in a canal not far from their farm on 2 August 1924 and confirmed in church the next day. His grade school days were at the rock schoolhouse less than a quarter of a mile from home so he walked both ways each day. In the 6th grade he received an attendance award for being neither late nor absent that year.


After graduating from the 8th grade, he attended Madison High School in Rexburg, Idaho and graduated from there on his 18th birthday May 11, 1934. He had his Patriarchal Blessing in 1931 and the blessing stated that he should be fully developed in stature and in strength and he began to grow and catch up in size with others his age after that. He finally reached almost 6 feet in height after high school.


He married Delpha Bell Clay in the Logan, Utah LDS Temple on September 22, 1936 when they were both just 20 years old. They lived in Lyman with his parents for a time then were given a small one-room house to live in where he was working for a neighbor. Their first child was born in this little home.


Later, they moved to Emmett, Idaho where he was able to find work. They lived there for about a year and 1/2 then moved back to Lyman where they purchased 10 acres of ground from his parents and built their own 2-room home there. This was during the days following the Great Depression so employment was hard to find, but he was able to get on the crew of the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and they were able to survive.


Their 2nd child was born in this 2-room home and they lived there until 1942 when he was hired to work on a farm at Aston, Idaho. After that summer, they moved to Idaho Falls where he worked first at a Sinclair service station, then driving truck for the Orange Trucking Co. Then he got his call to report for the military draft and he was drafted into the U.S. Navy during WWII. He moved his family, which now was 3 children with 2 girls & 1 boy, back to their house in Lyman and was gone for over 1 1/2 years. 


When he came back he found employment with a former co-worker who now lived in Southwestern Idaho in New Plymouth, Idaho. A few months later, he was able to purchase his own farm and moved his family of 4 children to this farm. A 5th child and 3rd son was born while living on this farm.


Because it was so hard to make a good living off this farm, Dorald had to take other jobs during the winter while there was little farm work to be done. One of these jobs was at the saw mill in Emmett. There was an accident at the mill one day and a big log came off the conveyor belt and hit him in the upper thigh of his right leg and mashed him back into a pillar damaging nerves and muscles in his shoulder along with a serious break of his leg which required extensive surgery. 

He suffered the effects of this accident to some degree for the rest of his life. Because of the damages from this accident, he was unable to continue farming so sold his farm and got work as a salesman for a milking equipment company. Eventually, he formed his own business which he had until his retirement.


Dorald & Delpha divorced after 38 years of marriage while living in Burley, Idaho and he later married Esther Hymas. He died of stomach cancer November 2, 2000 in his home in Burley, Idaho and was buried in the Sutton Cemetery at Archer, Madison, Idaho where a large number of his family and ancestors were also buried. All five of his children survived him.

LeRoy Herbert Galbraith

               LeRoy Herbert Galbraith

LeRoy was born June 12, 1914 in the Lyman, Madison, Idaho home of his grandparents, Edward & Ann Galbraith as his parents, John Herbert (Herb) and Ida Mae Barber Galbraith were living with his grandparents at the time.  He was their first child and the oldest of seven children. LeRoy was blessed in the Lyman LDS Ward on August 2, 1914 and given the name LeRoy Herbert Galbraith. 

His life on the farm was one of hard work and chores including milking cows, irrigating, helping in the fields of hay, beets and grain. The work was done by "horsepower" so he also learned how to ride and work with horses.

LeRoy attended grade school in the rock schoolhouse in Lyman and graduated from the 8th grade there.  He then went to Madison High School in Rexburg where he became interested in playing the trumpet and became a member of the high school band.  This involved a lot of early morning or after school rehearsals which were hard to attend living 7 miles away in Lyman so he moved into Rexburg and lived with his Grandmother, Emily Barber to be able to participate.  He worked for farmers to earn money for his schooling and activities.  He graduated from Madison High School in May 1932.

While going to high school and after graduating, he enjoyed participating in the church classes, dramatics and other activities, but especially the dances.  He always loved to dance and at one of the dances he met a girl named Velma Lola Hansen who was from the Annis area nearby.  They were married in the Logan, Utah LDS Temple on June 12, 1935 and lived in the Lyman Ward where he was called to serve as the Ward Clerk. 

He and Velma also served as Ward Dance Directors and went in to Rexburg to learn the dance routines, then came back to the Lyman Ward to instruct the youth of the ward.  At one time, they talked LeRoy’s father, a couple of his uncles and some of the other older men of the ward into coming and dancing with the girls to help them learn to dance in preparation for the floor show at the ward Gold and Green Ball.  The women of the ward also came to help the young men learn to dance.

Later, they moved to the Annis & Lorenzo area where their daughter, Neola Velma, was born during a blizzard on February 12, 1937.  During the summer of 1937, they moved to Washington near Sedro Wooley then in 1940 to Tacoma where they purchased a home.  He worked at several different kinds of jobs there taking whatever he could get during those pre-war years.  

During World War II, LeRoy's parents and some of his siblings moved to Tacoma where his father was employed in the shipyards as a pipe-fitter and plumber converting ships to battleships and hospital ships to be used in the war.

Later, Velma filed for divorce and she and Neola moved away from Tacoma and lived in Auburn, Washington.  He then met a woman named Sigrid Wainio Smith whose husband had filed for divorce while he was serving in World War II leaving her with a small daughter.  They married May 14, 1947 and lived in Tacoma for several years and were a very happy couple.

He became a boiler operator and inspector and retired from that occupation in 1979.  In 1984, he took up woodcarving and took several classes in it to improve his skills.  He had also taken up gemstone faceting making beautiful jewelry from rocks.

In 1992, he was having health problems so he and Sigrid decided to move to Lombard, Illinois to be near Sigrid's daughter and her family.  They lived in the Beacon Hill Retirement Community where worked with another resident on woodcarving.  Others stopped by to watch them carve and decide they wanted to learn to carve also, so they started a class which LeRoy instructed since he was the one who had the most knowledge of the carving process.

The local newspaper did an article on LeRoy and his woodcarving in 1995 and printed photos of examples of the things he carved.  They quoted him as saying: “When you take a block of wood and change it into a beautiful piece of polished carving, the feeling of satisfaction is very intense.  You have put a portion of yourself into it, and created something that is very unique and useful.”  He usually made several versions of the same carving, keeping one while giving the rest away as gifts to friends and grandchildren.

LeRoy passed away May 20, 1997 at the Beacon Hill Care Center in Lombard just a few days short of his 83rd birthday.  A memorial service for him was held on Saturday, May 24, at Beacon Hill and his ashes were sent back to Lyman.  He was remembered as a person who cared about others and who was always willing to help wherever help was needed.