Welcome to our series, #WHYoming
We are highlighting people from around 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?
This month, we talked to Green River’s Tom Wilson, a retired welding teacher, longtime athletic director and football coach, current Sweetwater County School District No. 2 board member, and Green Belt Task Force Member about a career built almost entirely in the town where he grew up.
Tell us a little about yourself
I graduated from Green River High School in 1974. I grew up on the South Side of Green River and was born here too. Before college, I worked construction for Al Buschelman for two years.
My wife and I went off to the University of Wyoming with nothing but a truck payment and a daughter. I graduated and took a job as a welding teacher for a year. I applied to teach in Buffalo and Evanston too, but I didn’t get those jobs, so I stayed in town instead. I spent 17 years teaching junior high in Green River, then moved to the high school, where I served as Dean of Students and athletic director at the same time before it became just AD.
I retired as athletic director in 2015 and went back to teaching welding until 2020. I coached my entire career, including two years as freshman football coach, and applied twice for the varsity head coaching job. I got it the second time, and I spent 13 years as head football coach.
At the middle school I taught woods, drafting and PE, and the high school welding program in the late 1990s. I later went back to graduate school to become Dean of Students.
What made you want to join the school board?
I’d wanted to give back to the community. A vacancy opened about four and a half years ago, and I put my name in for the first term, then ran again.
You spend a lot of time and don’t get paid a dime. But you give back to the town that gave me so much.
I was also inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022. Compared to other people who’ve been honored, just being mentioned in the same sentence is an honor. You’re not deserving when you look at all those great people who’ve come before you.
How has career and technical education changed since you started?
I was a student teacher back in 1979. Back then, most kids in CTE mostly came from two-parent homes, mom and dad were both involved, and the kids already had some experience with the work. There were very few girls in the classes back then.
The kids who come through today are amazing, but they have a completely different skill set than kids did in the 1980s. They come from different backgrounds with different experience levels, and yet they’re still amazing. They want to learn and do good things. The world is calling for blue-collar workers again, and a lot of industries have a big need for that. We have a very strong CTE program because of it.
In the late 2000s, education moved away from hands-on classes for a while. I still remember a student from the early 1990s who never took a CTE class and was awarded a scholarship to Carnegie Mellon for engineering. He called me up and told me they made him take a woodshop class before he graduated.
That program isn’t just for blue-collar kids. It’s a draw for future engineers and architects too.
What are your hobbies?
My biggest hobby is listening to my wife tell me what to do. After the kids left, we discovered we kind of liked each other.
I like fishing, hunting and spending time with my kids and my wife. I’ve also spent five years on the Green River Greenbelt Task Force.
Taking on community service is something you do because you love the community, not because you want a road named after you someday. I joke that plenty of people are more deserving of that than I am. You do it just because it’s good, not for the recognition. Dustin Shillcox, a former student of mine, was the one who pushed to get the street at the start of the Skyline Trail named after me I had no idea about it until they told me at the grand opening.
What made you want to stay in Green River?
Coming back was easy. My parents were here. The community is a great place to be, the school system is great, and people love to help each other. People have those conversations about whether to move away, but they all decide to stay because the people here are nice.
I have been so fortunate to have a life filled with good people – beginning with my beautiful bride of 51 years, my amazing children and grandchildren along with friends, family and those I work with, God has blessed me
Tom Wilson
I met my wife, Sheryl, at the Monroe pool. She was also inducted into the Hall of Fame. Our oldest daughter, Heather, lives in Windsor, Colorado. She’s married, and she owns her own business. Our daughter Kristen has her Ph.D. in Spanish and linguistics at Western Oregon University. We have six outstanding grandkids, and I wanted to make sure I mentioned them.
If you’d like us to interview you or someone you know for #WHYoming, please send suggestions to [email protected]
