Ralph Dale Galford, 90, of Twin Falls, Idaho, peacefully joined his “dahlink” in Heaven Wednesday, January 8, 2025.
Born March 5, 1934, in Dunmore, he was a son of the late Paul and Ora Galford.
Ralph was one of nine children and grew up in a two-story white house in — as he would say in his thick West Virginia accent — the “hollers of West by-God Virginie!” He was 15 when he started working his first job – driving log trucks in the Appalachian Mountains. He would single-handedly load his truck using heavy equipment, drive the logs down the steep, narrow, windy mountain roads, and then unload the truck at the mill. He was a strong man who worked hard all his life.
Ralph was drafted into the United States Army in 1956. He served two years of his six-year term on active duty before being transferred, at the rank of Private First Class, to inactive reserve status and receiving an honorable discharge.
In 1962, Ralph and his brother, Johnny, moved to Idaho for work. Ralph worked for the CCC building fence in the South Hills, then became a truck driver and joined the Teamsters Union. He later worked for Clawson Company operating the laydown machine; he paved half the roads and parking lots in old downtown Twin Falls. In the 1990s, Ralph worked a jackhammer creating the below-ground sideways anchor tunneling during the building of the Minidoka Dam. He was a proud member of the Laborers Union and retired in 1995.
Ralph met the love of his life, Elaine Eller, in 1965, and they were together the rest of their lives. Johnny and Ralph were about to move to Oregon for different work when Ralph and Elaine met; that fateful day changed everything, and the brothers both stayed in Idaho. The two brothers remained extremely close all through their lives, in later years talking on the phone several times a day. While he never had biological children, Ralph became “Dad” to Elaine’s four children, Randy, Gene, Rod and Judy, and later became Grandpa. The word “step” was not used. Ralph was an integral part of the whole extended family.
Ralph and Elaine both worked hard, so they often enjoyed just being at home spending time together. They grew great vegetable and flower gardens and enjoyed going fishing. The couple was able to travel back to West Virginia a few times over the years, and Ralph always enjoyed being able to introduce any of the Eller clan to his West Virginia family. They bought a little home in Twin Falls in 1973, where they lived for the rest of their lives. Ralph and Elaine loved each other to no end, and it broke his heart when she passed in 2019. They are now back together.
In addition to his parents and his “dahlink” Elaine; he was preceded in death by two sisters, Bertha Galford and Wilma Gray Morgan; four brothers, Marvin “Buck,” Steward Junior, and two who passed in infancy; and son, Randy Eller.
Ralph is survived by a brother, Johnny Galford, of Kimberly, Idaho; sister, Maxine Moore, of Dunmore; three children, Gene (Cindy) Eller, of Shoshone, Idaho, Rod (Jean) Eller, of Eden, Utah, and Judy Deveraux, of Filer, Idaho; seven grandchildren, Amanda Eller, Jami Jones, Josh Eller, Sharrie Hughes, Terry Deveraux, Kristin (Blake) Johnson and Nick (Chelsey) Fisher; 10 great-grandchildren, Zack, Kolton and Raiden Jones, Maggie and Ian Hughes, Owen, Ella, Ruby and Ollie Johnson and Sariah Gale; and several nieces and nephews.
Funeral service was held Sunday, January 11, 2025, at Wilks Magic Valley Funeral Home in Twin Falls, Idaho.
Memories and condolences may be shared with the family at weremember.com/ralph-galford/9g4y/
