MICKEY THOMAN

Cowgirl, mentor and ranching matriarch of the Thoman Ranch in Sweetwater County, Wyoming

A cowgirl, mentor, and leader, Mickey Thoman epitomizes the grit that defines the spirit of the American West. A living legend and ranch matriarch, Mickey and her three daughters operate the W&M Thoman Ranch in Sweetwater County, Wyoming. The Thoman women raise fine-wool Rambouillet sheep, a uniform herd of Hereford cattle, and spirited Thoroughbred-Quarter horses. Throughout personal and business hardships, Mickey and her family have remained relevant in the ever changing and ever challenging world of agriculture with a spirit of tenacity and togetherness. Over the years, Mickey has lost her husband and ranching partner, Bill Thoman, as well as two of her seven children.

When asked if she would give up her operation after her husband passed, she said, “Why would I sell it? This has been my whole life. I’m still here, and I’m still enjoying it. I think that’s what he would have wanted.” Mickey is one of the thirty-three founding members of the Green River Valley Cowbelles. She has also been a member of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association Board of Directors and Guardians of the Grasslands. She’s been an integral part of 4-H and a continuous 4-H key leader for half a century, with years of service and numerous dedicated leader awards.

Mickey was inducted into the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2018.

Scenes from sheep camp at the base of the Wind River mountains with the Thoman family.

WYOMING LATINA YOUTH CONFERENCE

A leadership, science and creativity conference centered around “The Power of Choice” for Wyoming Latinas ages 5-12th grade

Scenes from the Wyoming Latina Youth Conference at the University of Wyoming.

A two-day creativity, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics), and leadership conference, the mission of the Wyoming Latina Youth Conference is to raise the aspiring wealth of Wyoming Latinas ages 5-12th grade through mentoring, education and awareness. Attendees hear from a successful, nationally renowned keynote speaker and participate in various workshops held at the University of Wyoming. The conference encourages attendees to own their ambition and to gain the confidence to better themselves and their lives.

The Wyoming Latina Youth Conference (WLYC) was born almost 20 years ago after statistics revealed Latina girls to be most at risk for teen pregnancy, high school dropout and suicide. Cheyenne community leader and founder, Ann Esquibal Redman, was determined to change those numbers.

“I believe that we can defy the odds and go against the statistics. We are exposing young Latinas to all aspects of achieving aspiring wealth. It’s about confidence, self-esteem and fostering an attitude of ‘I CAN DO IT!’ It’s giving these girls the skills and ability to think beyond their urgent needs of everyday living.” -Dr. Cecelia Aragon, Executive Director of the Wyoming Latina Youth Conference.

In addition to building confidence and leadership skills, WLYC also places a major emphasis on wellness. From developing healthy relationships to managing one’s nutrition and mental well-being, WLYC takes a complete approach to successful life-building. Additionally, the conference is a fun and energizing event, where Latina girls from every corner of the state get to connect with each other and forge new friendships.  

In this multi-subject interview, I met with several attendees, alumnae and their founder to learn about their collective hopes, dreams and philosophy towards the conference’s theme, “The Power of Choice.”

RITA WATSON

The longest serving employee at the Wyoming Department of Education who has worked for every Superintendent of Education since 1974

Rita Watson grew up during the Jim Crow segregated south in Durham, North Carolina. She was the first black person to work at Woolworth’s Five and Dime store in Durham and continued to advance in her career as the climate improved for African Americans in the United States. In 1969, Rita moved from the south to the rural West after her husband was transferred to F.E. Warren Airforce Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The first time she and her husband drove into Cheyenne, she asked him to show her downtown. “This is it!” he proclaimed. Certain they would only stay for a couple of years, Rita began her tenure with the state of Wyoming and became active in the community. Cheyenne’s been home for Rita and her family for over half a century.

Rita began her employment with the state of Wyoming in November 1969 in the Department of Health, Vital Records Services (now the Wyoming Vital Statistics Services). She transferred to the Department of Education in 1974. Since then, Rita has been the most constant presence within the Wyoming Department of Education, assisting the past eight Wyoming Superintendents of Education, beginning with Dr. Robert Shrader in 1974. From there, Rita worked with Lynn Simons from 1979 to 1991, Diana J. Ohman from 1991 to 1995, Judy Catchpole from 1995 to 2003, Dr. Trent Blankeship from 2003 to 2005, Dr. Jim McBride from 2005 to 2011, Cindy Hill from 2011 to 2014 and current Wyoming Superintendent of Education, Jillian Balow, since 2014. Rita also worked for two interim superintendents between the years 2011 and 2014: Dr. Jim Rose and Richard Crandall.

Rita, quite simply, loves her job; she loves to make a difference in education and in the lives of others. Rita is also active in the community, volunteering and organizing many charitable causes. She’s a founding member of the Love & Charity Club, most well-known for organizing the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day march in Cheyenne since 1982.

When I asked Rita about wanting to make it a few more years at the Department of Education (Rita is almost 80), she adamantly proclaimed, “At least! I love what I do. I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do. . . other than work!”

CLIMB WYOMING

A statewide nonprofit empowering low income, single mothers by providing free job training, mental health counseling and job placement in six Wyoming communities

Single mothers and their children experience the highest rates of poverty among families in Wyoming. Climb Wyoming is a statewide nonprofit helping to alleviate poverty by providing free job training, life skill development, mental health counseling and job placement to low income, single mothers living in six communities around the state of Wyoming.

In 1986, Climb’s founder, Dr. Ray Fleming Dinneen, and her mother, a widely sought-after psychologist and consulting forensic expert, were approached by the federal government to develop job training programs for populations most at risk for living in poverty. Speaking about her mother, Dr. Ray recalls, “So much of my mom was working with those who didn’t have a sense of themselves. She had so much hope for everyone and could see the potential in everyone.” Together, they began building Climb’s transformative model to recognize and unlock the potential of Wyoming single mothers.  

Climb’s model is immersive, intense, and demands the full attention of participants and staff. Programming takes place over a three-month period with groups of ten moms at a time. The basis of Climb’s programming is career training and placement, but there’s more to permanent life change than getting a job. Climb accomplishes long-term self-sufficiency through life skill training and mental health counseling through group and 1:1 sessions.

Poverty is cyclical and passed down from one generation to the next. Over the 30+ years of Climb’s evolution, they’ve developed one of the nation’s most successful models for moving families out of poverty and have supported more than 2,000 women and their families. The result is a collective force of empowered, self-sufficient women who are confident, upwardly mobile, and have created a better life for themselves and their children.

In this multi-subject profile, I talk with Climb’s founder, Dr. Ray Fleming Dinneen, Climb’s leadership staff, and the incredible moms who share their journeys of self-sufficiency and vulnerability as a pathway to living more courageously. After 35 years at the helm, Dr. Ray stepped down from her position as Executive Director in 2021 and passed the torch to long-time staff member and current ED, Katie Hogarty.

AURA NEWLIN

A Wyoming anthropologist, educator and advocate who educates her students and audiences around the country about the Japanese American incarceration during WWII

Aura Newlin is an anthropologist, educator, advocate and public speaker whose Wyoming roots run deep. A 4th-generation, Japanese American Wyomingite, Aura grew up in Riverton, Wyoming. Her parents, former peace-corps volunteers, exposed Aura and her siblings to a broader world through international volunteer work. This global imprint influenced Aura’s interest in learning about other cultures and led her to become an anthropologist. “Anthropology turns everything on its head. As anthropologists, we try to understand what it might be like to live in someone else’s shoes, to understand what their experiences are like through their eyes.” Aura loves sharing the world with her students by introducing them to anthropology and the practice of “questioning whether something is normal and natural or if that’s just seemingly normal and natural because that’s the way you were raised.” 

Aura landed her dream job teaching anthropology and sociology at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming, a mere 15 miles from the Heart Mountain confinement site. After Pearl Harbor, up to 14,000 Japanese American immigrants and their children were incarcerated at Heart Mountain, one of ten confinement sites established by the War Relocation Authority during WWII. Her great-grandfather made his career as a railroader in southern Wyoming, but by WWII had moved to Hollywood, California for health reasons. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, effectively placing approximately 120,000 Japanese immigrants and their American-born children in war-time camps, Aura’s great-grandfather was sent back to Wyoming, this time to Heart Mountain. Aura’s grandfather, living and working for the Union Pacific railroad in Green River, Wyoming at this same time, was fired along with all the other employees of Japanese ancestry. Later, her grandfather was offered his job back, but he declined.

For Aura, working as an educator in such close proximity to her relatives’ experience at Heart Mountain “feels like destiny.” In addition to teaching her students, she speaks around the state and to legal audiences around the country about what happened at Heart Mountain and the Japanese American incarceration.

Reflecting on why she continues to educate her students and speak to various audiences, she says, “We need to embrace the bad along with the good, because it’s part of what makes us who we are. I don’t see Heart Mountain as something that belongs to Japanese American history. It is American history, and it is Wyoming history. As I go around the state talking with different communities about this, I hope to instill some of that passion and hope that I feel about this history. I would like to continue to have a voice at the national level and to be heard because we have an important story that needs to be told, and I like telling it.”

Scenes from the Heart Mountain Confinement site, where in WWII, up to 14,000 Japanese American immigrants and their American-born children were incarcerated.