Hepolito "Paul" Sisneros
Burial Details
Obituaries
Eagle Valley Enterprise page 12 - September 23, 2010
Vail Daily - September 21, 2010
Hepolito (Paul) Sisneros, of Gypsum, passed away peacefully at his home Sunday with loved ones at his side.
A rosary service will be held at 5:30 p.m. today at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church, 215 Capitol St. in Eagle. The funeral service will also be held at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church on Thursday at 10 a.m. followed by an interment at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Gypsum. Monsignor Robert J. Kinkel will officiate.
Hepolito was born March 12, 1920, in Vadito, N.M. He grew up in an era that required hard work to provide for family, neighbors and friends. Paul was always there to help everyone. At the age of 17, he left his family to join the Civilian Conservation Corps, a public work relief program providing unskilled manual labor related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural areas of the United States.
Upon completion of his service with the CCC, he enlisted in the Army. Paul served in World War II. In February 1943, he left the U.S. for the Asiatic Pacific (New Guinea and New Zealand) with Company E, 542nd Engineers. During his service, he received a certificate of participation for work essential to the production of the atomic bomb, thereby contributing to the successful conclusion of World War II. He also earned a Bronze Star Medal and was honorably discharged in 1944 due to illness.
When Paul returned from serving his country, he moved back to New Mexico, where he met the love of his life, Clorovea Trujillo. On Nov. 11, 1944, they married and moved to Taos, N.M., where he enrolled in a trade school and learned to build carved furniture using a technique called chip-carving. Many of his pieces included bedroom furniture, dining room table and chairs, coffee and end tables, and carved mirror frames. He became a master tradesman in furniture building. In fact, one of his pieces, a Spanish colonial revival chair, is displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington.
After living in Taos for a few years, Paul and his family moved to Minturn, where he began employment with the New Jersey Zinc Co. in Gilman. After 35 years of mining, he retired and moved to Gypsum.
Paul enjoyed fishing, camping, hunting, road trips, visiting his family in New Mexico and spending time with his immediate family. Once asked if liked hunting, he said, “only to provide meat for my family.” He would make the best dried jerky.
Paul made Colorado his home but never forgot his roots in New Mexico. He was always ready for a trip to visit his many family members in New Mexico. He also had family in friends in Utah and Wyoming.
He is joined in death by his mother, Beatriz Sisneros; father Procopio Sisneros; daughter Lillian Sisneros; son Joseph Sisneros; and sister Eloisa Trujillo.
He is survied by his wife Clorovea Sisneros; sons George (Eleanor), Paul (Sherri), Albert (Donna); daughters Isabel (Anthony), Esther (Herbert), Lorraine (Donald), Frances (Daniel); sister Frances (Tony) Vigil; brothers Jose Sisneros, Jake Mascarenez; 12 grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
