Gwen Gallegos Bylinsky, 95, died at home Friday, September 30 in Fort Collins, CO, surrounded by friends and family. Gwen, the firstborn child of Manuel “Lito” Gallegos and Carmela Niccoli, was born in a company home on the grounds of the Columbine Mine in Weld County on September 20, 1927.
From the age of five, Gwen grew up within walking distance of St. John’s School in Denver, which she attended through 8th grade. It was early in life when she found her voice. “I was always singing and driving my mother crazy,” Gwen remembered. At age 8 or 9 she began voice lessons with Madame De Costa. As a teenager, she regularly sang at 11 o’clock Mass at Holy Ghost Church. During the war years, Gwen often sang at Fitzsimons General Hospital in the wards for wounded soldiers. After graduating from St. Mary’s Academy in 1945, Gwen began her vocal studies with Florence Lamont Hinman. In 1946 she was selected as a student singer member of the Central City Opera ensemble. The following year she was a soloist with the Denver Symphony Orchestra at the Elitch Gardens Pops Concert in July. Around the same time, she performed with the Lamont Singers at Red Rocks.
Gwen continued her vocal studies at Louisiana State University after graduating from The Lamont School of Music of the University of Denver. She fell in love with Louisiana, and that’s where she fell in love with Gene Bylinsky. They married in Denver in August 1955. Around this time, Gwen applied her talent as a natural storyteller to learning the craft of writing and magazine production. In Louisiana, she worked for The Register, a Baton Rouge society magazine. In addition to being a ‘Girl Friday’, Gwen had the opportunity to write for the magazine and design ads. She later worked as a society editor for the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate/State Times; as an editor for Dallas Fashion and Sportswear in Dallas, Tex.; and as a reporter for Pacific Shipper, a magazine based in San Francisco
Gwen never forgot her early childhood in the coal mining camps and her family’s struggles during the Great Depression. Gwen was generous to those in need and spent many years volunteering. As a teenager, she served as a candy striper at a Denver hospital, where she helped apply hot moist towels to the paralyzed limbs of polio victims. While living in Connecticut, she volunteered at Neighbor to Neighbor, a food pantry, and served on the Greenwich Board of Social Services. Her passion was grassroots Democratic politics. She was chair of the Democratic Women’s Club and the Democratic Town Committee. In 1996 she ran for office as the Democrat candidate for State Representative 151st District. Although Gwen never won a race in the overwhelmingly a Republican district, she put her heart and soul into representing the Democrat minority.
She was predeceased by her husband of 53 years, Gene Michael Bylinsky, and by two brothers, Lito “Junior” Gallegos, and Harold Gallegos. She is survived by two brothers, Joseph Gallegos of Denver and Donald Gallegos of Littleton; her son Gregory Bylinsky and his wife, Mae Hsieh; her daughter Tanya B. Fabian and son-in-law Chris Fabian; and six grandchildren.
A Mass of Christian Burial was held Friday, October 14 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Fort Collins. A rosary preceded the funeral service.
In lieu of flowers, Gwen asked that donations be made to Haven of Hope in Denver or Pathways Hospice in Fort Collins.
