Eleanor Josephine LaLonde

Eleanor Josephine Muniz LaLonde was born January 10th, 1946 in Dolores Colorado the daughter of Frank and Tomacita (Candelaria) Muniz. She passed away on Monday, December 16th 2024 at her home in Dolores at the age of 78. 

 Eleanor “Ellie” loved the mountains and small-town life. She graduated from Dolores High School in 1964 and moved to Midwest City, OK in 1965. She returned to Dolores 2 years later. In 1968 she met and shortly after married Edward LaLonde. They were together until his passing in 2008.

 During her life, Ellie had several jobs around Dolores including a clerk for Akin Mercantile, a waitress, a bartender, and a liquor store clerk. She talked about all the wonderful people she met while working these jobs. She was offered a job as a manager for the Four Corners Sheltered Workshop in Cortez and stayed on there for 10 years, until their closing. Here she worked with handicapped people which led her to volunteer to help coach the young athletes of this group in the Colorado Special Olympics. After the workshop closed, she began working for Baker Sanitation in Dolores Colorado which started her work in the solid waste industry for the next 35 years until she retired at age 75. One of her favorite things to do was coaching kids. She coached little league when her son and daughter played in the 70’s and 80’s as well as a high school co-ed league where her nephews, nieces and the local teenagers played. Coaching kids ball teams could have been her calling in life had she continued because she was excellent at coaching a team to victory and letting every kid play no matter what.

 Surviving Ellie are her children Michael LaLonde (Becky) of Dolores, Jamie Phelps (Chris) of Dolores, her grandchildren Chance Winder of Dolores, Ben Winder (Kira) of Tooele, UT, Mykal LaLonde of Cortez, Alexis LaLonde (Jeremy Strong) of Cortez, Derek Phelps (Dianna) of Simpsonville, SC, Tyrus Phelps of Dolores, Matthew Vigil, Steven Vigil and Arianna LaLonde of Colorado Springs, and 6 great grandsons. Her siblings Julia Barfield of Midwest City, OK, Frank Muniz (Neita) of Dolores, Helen Edwards of Dolores, Rose Ancell (Walt) of Dolores, Lucille Gladem of Lake Havasu City, AZ, Steve Muniz of Long Beach, CA and Jimmy Muniz (Kathy) of Dolores. She also has numerous nieces and nephews.

 She was proceeded in death by her parents, her husband, two step children Mickey Vigil and Billie LaLonde, a grandson, Dalton LaLonde, her brothers Modesto Tano, Henry Smith, Simon, Bonnie, and Bill Muniz her sisters Susie Quintana, Mary Ann Muniz, Filomena Gallegos, and Josephine Cabellaro. Ellie has chosen not to have a service, she always said “If they wanted to see me, they should have come and visited when I was alive, not wait until I’m dead”. The family is honoring her wishes.