Passings Richard B. Coley 26.
Richard Bryson Coley, 68, died Aug.
Coley was born in Gainesville, Georgia, in 1952 to Cherokee Chief Elder Leon and Rowena Coley He was a veteran who served in the U.S. Army during the Viet- Coley nam War. He worked at the University of Wyoming Observatory and retired from WYDOT after working seven years in the maintenance department in Rawlins. He loved the mountains, hunting, fishing and reading a good book. He also enjoyed telling about his life in stories to his friends and family. Coley was known and loved by many – he will be missed. There were no funeral services, cremation has taken place.
Larry Davis Larry Davis, former Gillette Maintenance foreman passed away on July 4. No word on services at this time.
James Keith Fowler, 64, of Sundance, died peacefully at home Sept. 3. Fowler was born April 5, 1956 in Williston, North Dakota. As a child, he and his family moved several times before settling in St. Paul, Minnesota with his mother and Fowler older brother. As a young man, he moved to Hulett, where he began working for the Wyoming Highway Department with Hulett Maintenance. Soon after that, he met and married his wife, Becky. Fowler transferred to Sundance Maintenance and remained there until retirement in 2013 with 35 years of service to WYDOT. His wife, Becky Fowler, retired as the supervisor at the Sundance Port of
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Joyce L. Gallegos Joyce L. Gallegos, 59, of Cheyenne passed away Sept. 2 at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center. She fought a difficult battle, was deeply loved, and will be greatly missed by her loving family and friends. She was born May 31, 1961 in Cheyenne to Lee and Dorita Gallegos Sandoval. She married Dino Gallegos on Aug. 19, 1989 in Cheyenne. She had worked for 24 years at WYDOT and was most recently a Highway Safety grant specialist. She was a member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Cheyenne.
John L. Hayes
Davis
J. Keith Fowler
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Entry. They loved to travel, especially to the island of Isla Mujeres, Mexico, where they visited annually for the past 20 years. They also spent a lot of time camping locally after retirement. Memorial services were held Sept. 19 at Clarenbach Memorial Park in Sundance.
October 2020
1933- 2020 John Leland Hayes, 87, of Cheyenne died July 16. John was born May 23, 1933, in Superior, Wyoming. Hayes was born to Ishmael and Prudence Ethel (Dunn) Hayes. They lived in Rock Springs where he and his sisters attended and graduated from Rock Hayes Springs High. His parents divorced and each parent remarried, giving him the opportunity to live with each parent and step-parent six months of the year. His mom and stepdad, Charles W. Melbourn, had a small homestead south of Medicine Bow. Some of the happiest times he had were on the Lechie Ranch outside of Rock Springs. Here they would live a cowboy life and have those cowboy hard times. Those times, however, would
make for great story telling much later down the road. He also spent time with his dad, stepmother, Louise Dudley, and his sister, Martha. In 1951, John stepped away from the cowboy way of life and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He attended boot camp at San Diego Naval Station and was later stationed in Kodiak, Alaska. He was eventually assigned to the USS Bradford DD (destroyer) 545 and participated in many areas of combat in the Korean War. He was honorably discharged in 1954, and was distinguished with the Korean Service Medal, one Silver Star, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Medal, the China Service Medal, the Korean Combat Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation, and the Good Conduct Medal. After being discharged, he moved back to Rock Springs but the ranch had been sold and no jobs were available. He moved to Laramie, Wyoming where he worked for the University of Wyoming agronomy farm, and the Western Public Service Company while studying as an engineering student. It was during this time he met his wife, Shirley Weinberger. Family legend has it that John first saw Shirley at a dance where he was playing in the band. He knew instantly he had to marry this dark haired, blue-eyed beauty, and after a whirlwind courtship, he indeed managed to convince her to marry him. John and Shirley eloped to Kimball, Nebraska and were married in a ceremony attended by their best friend. They returned to Laramie where their first child, John Lee, was born. Following a change in jobs, the small family moved to Cheyenne to expand in both careers and family size. Now working for Land Air Inc., Kristie and Blayne were born. Eventually John worked for the Wyoming Highway Department, WYDOT’s predecessor agency, and was a cartographic engineer for several years, later retiring from Traffic with 34 years of service. He lived the life of a traditional American cowboy. Brave, strong, compassionate and honest. He spread The Word and kept The Word. He gave his word and kept his word. He was a man with a solid hand-
