Welcome to our series, #WHYoming, brought to you in partnership with Commerce Bank of Wyoming.

We are highlighting people throughout our communities and asking them a few questions. We want to learn a little about them and see why they chose this great state to raise their families, start their businesses, or simply to ask — Why Wyoming?

For this monthly’s #WHYoming, I had a chance to talk with Becky Iwen, Manager of Youth Services at the Sweetwater County Library. Becky has worked in this role at the library for 14 years and has helped develop several activities for the community’s youth.

If you’ve had a kid and attended a library event, you’ve probably seen Becky around wearing a smile. She loves that Green River, and Sweetwater County as a whole, has so many small town events, and her work through the library has contributed to that environment. After living in Wyoming for around 30 years and raising her children in Green River, this is home, and she is appreciative of the opportunities small town living has afforded her and her family.

Getting to chat with Becky was a lot of fun, and it was so cool getting to know the person behind many of the activities the Sweetwater County Library offers. The community is lucky to have someone who cares so much about providing affordable events for our youth and families to enjoy, and is so dedicated to fostering a love for reading and learning at an early age.

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Becky, what do you do at the Sweetwater County Library, and how long have you worked there?

I am the manager of youth services for the Sweetwater County Library branch here in Green River. That kind of entails toddler time for brand new babies all the way up through our teen activities. We do a lot of things in the library itself so definitely focusing on events and materials for kids. I’ve been at the library for 14 years. 

How did you end up at the library?

I’ve been working in libraries since I was 15. I’ve worked as a library page, that was my first library job in Big Piney. I’ve worked in tech services, so processing all of the books and things when we lived in Montana. And then when we moved here I started in youth services part time. I like what libraries are all about, really celebrating that freedom to read, that there’s an opportunity for anyone to get a library card and to learn things and to have free entertainment. It’s a really great place to be. 

Are you involved in any other groups in the community?

I am, I’m on our local Green River PFLAG board. Of course that is all about supporting the LGBTQ community and their families and allies. 

How did you end up in Green River?

My husband was hired on at the mines, and I’ve lived in Wyoming for about 30 years in different places. We actually met in Rock Springs when we were both at Western. Then we moved back when he got the job, and we had a couple kids and it’s a really great place to raise a family. 

What is something unique about you?

I have won the People’s Choice Award at the Festival of Tree that supports the YWCA Safe House three times. I’m looking forward to creating another tree this year with my friend Bianca Alderson. 

Oh, and a fun thing about me that people may not know is we, my family, went to Nepal and did the Everest Base Camp Trek. It was really cool. 

And something I really enjoy doing is I really enjoy fiber arts, so I do lots of knitting and crochet and weaving, and I learned how to spin my own yarn.

What are some of your other hobbies?

I’m such a homebody, I really enjoy doing puzzles, all the fiber arts. And I really enjoy Green River as a community, so I go up to the rec center and do the workout classes, I like having access to the Greenbelt and going hiking, and we were out at the Gorge last weekend and did some paddle boarding. 

What do you appreciate most about our community?

This might be my position at the library but even before I started working at the library, Green River just has that small town feel where we have a lot of events and opportunities that are free or extremely low cost and there’s something for all ages. Even when we moved here and I had just had a baby, right away we were able to go meet Santa and go walk around the town, there’s just always something going on here. That’s a really nice feel for a community. 

If you could give one brief piece of advice, what would it be?

I think the best piece of advice I could give to just about anyone is that if they haven’t gotten a library card, get one. That for me, especially when I was young, opened a lot of doors and windows for reflections and seeing through other people’s eyes. And with the ability to read you can really do just about anything that you want. 

What is one, or a few, of your proudest accomplishments?

On a library level, I’m super proud to have incorporated some special collections. So we have the board game collection that people can check out, we recently added a puzzle collection, and we also have a large collection of American Girl and Boy dolls that people can check out. So that’s something I’m really proud of, being able to incorporate some of those items that not all libraries have access to. 

And on a personal level, I am super proud of my kids, who are both becoming young adults, and seeing them growing up and find their own paths and becoming happy healthy adults. It’s amazing. 

Where is your favorite place to hang out in Sweetwater County?

It’s kind of funny but even when I’m not working I find myself coming into the library with my kids or I’m like, ‘oh my gosh I need a board game,’ and the library has a board game collection. I end up at the library a lot. 

If you had all the time and resources necessary, what’s a skill you would want to learn?

If I had all the time, I think it would be really amazing to be able to dedicate the time to doing one of the really long hikes across the United States. Like the Pacific Crest Trail hike, some of those that you really need to take months to train and then to do it. 

What would you sing at karaoke night?

Currently I’m obsessed with Chappell Roan; singing ‘Hot To Go’ is super fun. 

How would your friends describe you?

I’m a generally fun person! 

Who would you want to play you in a movie about your life?

This is weird but I think Winona Ryder would do a really good job at playing me. 

Why do you choose to live in Wyoming?

I love Wyoming for a lot of the same reasons why other Wyomingites love it here. I like that our largest city is still considered a small town for a lot of places, that there aren’t a lot of people here, that we all are very independent, and that kind of thought of letting everyone live their own lives, it’s just kind of a mindset. And I love the small town community and the opportunities that it gives people. 

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This community series is brought to you by our great sponsors at Commerce Bank of Wyoming.

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