Memoirs Eugene Leone

Over the next 11 months we will be sharing the Memoirs That Made Me Who I Am. These are compiled stories written about the life of a former Gallup resident Eugene Leone.

Before his passing, he wrote, “It is with great delight that I share these stories from my heart, which have been inside for many years. My desire is that the reader would be able to go back to a time that was very real and may have been lost through the years.

Chapter Eight The Great Rescue

TThis next comic drama takes us back to a time before World War II, and the beginning of the “Great Depression.” My best friend was Edward DePauli. Ed was one grade below me all through Grammar and High School in a small and impoverished Catholic School.

We were also both fortunate

to have been accepted for enrollment at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, a Jesuit run and taught school. The Jesuits are referred to by many Catholics as the “brains of the church,” but not without some criticism and resentment.

One Saturday, Ed said he would really like to do a little

fishing. That sounded good to me. So, we began our excursion to Blue Water. Blue Water dam and lake was about 60 miles from Gallup on paved or gravel roads. It was one of the largest bodies of water in western New Mexico. The lake was about three miles long and one mile wide. The water near the damn was about 75 to 100 feet deep. This lake is a popular picnic and recreation area for a myriad of persons of various sizes, shapes, and color, and who mostly could not swim. About two to three persons a year drowned on Blue Water.

Editor’s Note: There seems to be a portion missing from the “Great Rescue” story. The Author has left out on paper how a steer came into the picture, and clearly these two friends came across a surprise visit.

“Alright,” said Ed. “I’ll get the shovel and mattock, so we can get a little fishing done.” I said, “there is a place in heaven for you Ed.” He said, “shut the hell up or I will send you and your goofy cow to another place.” So we took off our pants, sweatshirts, shoes, and socks. This was not a spectacle that pleased our already enraged bovine

buddy.

Digging in the wet adobeclay mixture proved to be far more difficult than I had envisioned. We had to be very careful with the shovel and for the mattock, so that we did not injure the animals’ legs or feet. Finally, we got one leg free, then the second and the third, but the fourth required more digging before it was freed.

When the steer, Ed, and I were all free of the muddy clay, we picked up the steer, one of us on each side clasping one leg of the poor exhausted snared animal and sloshed out of the swamp and onto a patch of dry grass where the three of us collapsed and slept for a half hour. We were awakened by the steer hollering as he tried to stand up. I said, “I think it’s ready to go home.” And sure as hell when we picked it up onto its feet it kicked Ed on the thigh and then it turned and ‘bit’ me on the arm. Both wounds drew blood. I didn’t know that cattle can bite, but talking to people ‘in the know,’ people lose fingers all the time trying to feed horses and cows by hand. Well, it doesn’t know that he is now off my Christmas card and alfalfa cookie list. But seriously, Ed, I really miss you; you enriched my life in difficult times. We were a good team. I ask one more favor from you please. Next time you see the “BIG GUY,” could you put in a good word for me? I honestly think we could make heaven better!

I would remiss here if I did not tell you of Ed’s accomplishments in his professional life. Ed went on to college and earned his Law degree. With that accomplishment (bear in mind that Ed went through the same small and impoverished parochial school as I) and secured a position and practice in a Gallup law firm. But it did not take long for it to become obvious that Ed was destined for a higher calling, and he became the District Attorney for McKinley County in New Mexico, and before long succeeded in becoming a District Judge for all Western New Mexico. Regrettably he and I did not see one another because of the demands of our jobs. We talked on the phone occasionally and I learned that he and Joann had a large and fine family. I was quite saddened by Ed’s untimely death. I will not know his equal again.