Editor's note: Garry is filling in for Priscilla who will be back next week.

Alfred Read Gallupe, the 12-year-old injured from falling roof balustrade, beams, bricks and mortar from the YMCA on Sept. 22, 1913, died four days later. The helpful, cheery, enterprising young boy fought terrible odds with a superhuman tenacity and rallied briefly the day before his death.

Hope never left the family, but Alfred never regained consciousness, and passed away on the 26th of Sept. 1913, at his home.

Alfred was the son of the late John H. Gallupe and Ella Gallupe of Grand Junction and the grandson of General George S. Gallupe of the 5th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery during the Civil War and later of the Plains Wars with General George A. Custer.

Floral pieces covered Alfred's bier at his funeral in the family home. The following schoolmates were pallbearers: Leland Schen, Frank Munson, Bernard Ebner, Robert Whipple, DeForrest Northrup and Robert Caldwell. The funeral cortege was followed by a long line of carriages to the Orchard Mesa Cemetery where he was buried next to his father, John.

Alfred's family moved to Grand Junction in 1899 because of father John's ill health. They bought a home at 1016 Main St. His parents John H. and Ella Provost Gallupe and brother, George II, were all well known in the community. John worked for the Mesa County Clerk & Recorder's Office on Sixth and Main (now Main Street Bagel) before passing away in 1907. Ella took John's place in the Clerk's office and was in charge of moving the Clerk's office from Main Street to the Mesa County Courthouse at Sixth and Rood. In 1921, Ella was elected the first Woman Mesa County Clerk and Recorder.

After Alfred's death, Ella's mother, Mrs. Rebecca Provost came from Pennsylvania to live with her daughter and grandson George II. She remained with them until her death in 1922 and is buried next to her grandson “Little Brother” as she called him in the Orchard Mesa Cemetery.

After two terms as County Clerk, Ella resigned her position and moved to Portland, Ore., to marry an old school friend from back east, William Knox Johnson. Ella lived in Oregon until the death of her second husband, and then returned to her home at 1016 Main St.

George Gallupe II attended Grand Junction High School, was a veteran for the First World War, and married Alice Robbins May 5, 1922, in Grand Junction. It was a joy for Ella to issue the marriage license to her son and new daughter-in-law. George II died in 1935 and is buried in La Plata County. George II and Alice had two sons — George and Jack who both served in World War II. Today, members of the Gallupe family still live in Colorado.

Ella Gallupe Johnson died in 1944 in her home in Grand Junction and is buried next to her husband John, son Alfred and mother Rebecca in the Masonic Section of the Orchard Mesa Cemetery. She and John had lost a son before moving to Grand Junction with George II. Ella outlived all three sons, two husbands and her parents.

There are six places in Grand Junction where one can see the mark left upon this city by the Gallupe Family.

• The Elks Club — John and Ella Gallupe were founding members.

• Main Street Bagel on Sixth and Main Street, then a two-story building, the first courthouse in Mesa County.

• The Mesa County Courthouse on Sixth and Rood where Ella as the first woman County Clerk and Recorder served the citizens of Mesa County.

• The Gallupe home of 1016 Main St. was torn down in 1977. This is where the Gallupe family had their good and bad times together. The home saw the birth of Alfred and, the deaths and funerals of father John, son Alfred, grandmother Rebecca and mother Ella. Today, the vacant lot is being put to good use as a beautiful Community Garden. In a way the Gallupe family homestead is still helping the people of Grand Junction by growing a living garden.

• The Orchard Mesa Cemetery where Alfred is buried. Next to him is his father John, mother Ella and his grandmother (Ella's mother) Mrs. Rebecca Provost.

• The statue of William Moyer on Fifth Street in front of the Alpine Bank building stands where Alfred Gallupe was fatally injured. The statue with two small children hanging onto Mr. Moyer's back represents the love he had for the city and the pool he built to give children a safe place to swim. One would like to think the small boy on Moyer's back is Alfred asking Mr. Moyer to buy the Saturday Evening Post to help support his mother or asking to help Mr. Moyer find his hat.

It has been 98 years since the freak accident of Sept. 22, 1913, at the YMCA building that took the life of Alfred Gallupe.

Next time you walk by the statue on Fifth Street outside of Alpine Bank, say hello to Alfred, the forever cheery and kind boy of Grand Junction.

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Garry Brewer is finder of odd knowledge, uninteresting items, boring to his grandchildren, a pain to his wife on spelling, but a locator of golden nuggets and truths, and hundreds of hours in the newspaper files.

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Sources who helped: Museum of Western Colorado, Loyd Files Room; Michael Menard; Soldiers and Sailor Museum in Pennsylvania; Michael Kraus; Priscilla Mangnall; Pat Gormley; Dawn Gallupe; Wanda Allen; Steve and Denise Hight; City of Grand Junction Cemetery Information; Vicki Beltran; Grand Junction News; Daily Sentinel; Mesa County Library; Snap Photo; Mesa County Assessor's Office; Mesa County Clerk and Recorder's Office; and the locator of hand-held scanners, Mr. Bill Buvinger.