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The story of Teno Roncalio, Wyoming’s lone Representative in Congress, reads like a Horatio Alger, Jr. “Story For Boys”.
Teno was born in Rock Springs, Wyoming, March 23, 1916. His parents were Italian immigrants. His father, Frank Roncaglio was a coal miner. In order to provide his family with more of the good things of life, Frank Roncaglio also salvaged and sold junk. Teno was one of a family of nine children.
Mrs. Frank (Ernesta) Roncalio, mother of Teno. Only four of the nine children of Frank and Ernesta Roncalio are now living; Teno, his brother Adolph of Richmond, California. and his sister, Mrs. Reed (Julia) Smith of Chicago, Ill. An invalid, Elvira, is a patient at the Wyoming State Training School at Lander.
Teno Roncaijo was christened Celeste Domenico Roncaglio. The nickname “Teno” was given him by his schoolmates in Rock Springs. Roncaglio was
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changed to Roncalio because it is so much easier to say upon first sight. The pronunciation is the same. Ron-call-jo.
Teno and some of his little friends playing down by the tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad in Rock Springs, Wyoming.
Legend has it (and the story of Teno is a legend in his home town) that Teno obtained his first job, operating a push cart at the age of five years. The next year he took over a shoe shine stand in a
loca’
barber shop. By the time he was sixteen years old, Teno had passed the Wyoming Barber Board of Examiners and was the holder of a Journeyman Barber’s Union card.
Teno worked in the barber shop throughout his high school years but after graduation went to work on the
Rock Springs Rocket
as a combination reporter and advertising salesman. For six years Teno worked for the newspaper, gaining much valuable experience. In 1938 he entered the University of Wyoming as a Journalism and Pre-Law student. To help out with expenses, Teno and a Rock Springs buddy, Frank Larrabaster, made stencil duplicates of basketball schedules and sold advertising to go with them.
During his years at the University, Teno ran a snack bar in a dormitory, waited tables and washed dishes at Annie Moore’s boarding house, tended furnace, shoveled snow and scrubbed “acres”
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