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.