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Uncle Ricky will now celebrate Christmas in the hospital, as narrated by MMA announcer Steve Inman.....

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Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>🚧 Steve Inman: Sunday, December 1, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Steve Inman: Sunday, December 1, 2024

 Uncle Ricky will now celebrate Christmas in the hospital, as narrated by MMA announcer Steve Inman.....

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

It only takes one heart to change the world. That’s something Jerre Gowdy, wife of famous sports announcer Curt Gowdy, truly believed, and it was the force behind all of her charity work, whether in Boston, Palm Beach, Florida, or Wyoming. 

Born Geraldine Ophelia Dawkins, Gowdy died on Jan. 27, surrounded by her family at her home in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. She was 101.

Throughout her life, Jerre strove to be that one heart for her corner of the world, contributing her time and talents to multiple medical charities with a particular focus on researching children’s diseases, as well as contributions to the arts and culture.

She was chairwoman of the American Heart Ball for the American Heart Association and held positions with the New England Baptist Hospital League, the Lahey Clinic, the Jimmy Fund, Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts, the Boston Repertory Theatre Company, and the Boston Ballet. 

She also chaired a gala as tribute to famous conductor Arthur Fiedler of the Boston Pops Orchestra.

In Wyoming, her efforts focused on additions to Curt Gowdy State Park, her husband’s namesake park, a stunning 3,500-acre sportsman’s paradise that lies exactly halfway between Cheyenne and Laramie. 

Her efforts included helping create a new multimillion dollar visitor’s center that opened at the park in 2013, thanks to money she helped raise alongside family friend Johnny Morris, who is founder of Bass Pro Shops. 

The family also started its Curt Gowdy State Park Family Fund about that time, with Cheryl serving as senior advisor and her brothers, Curt Jr. and Trevor serving as co-advisors, to focus on more additions to the park.

 in person, at the age of 99, to help celebrate the grand opening of a children’s center at the park, Little House on the Park, in person with her daughter Cheryl Gowdy.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"On The Edges Of A Dream"}]

Little House seeks to teach children about love and kindness, and spread those lessons statewide, as a 

The morning of Little House’s grand opening, Jerre told Cowboy State Daily she’d had a dream about the log cabin with its beautiful, reclaimed beetle wood and fossilized stone fireplace.

What struck Jerre about the cabin in this dream was just how solidly constructed this cabin she had traveled all the way to Wyoming to see really was.

Architects had told her many times as Little House was being built that it would last forever.

Waking from her dream that morning, ahead of a daylong event to gift the cabin to Wyoming, there was just one wish in her heart, she said. It was that Little House would welcome all people for a long time to come, and that it would always bring them great joy.

Jerre herself shared her own great joy that day. She raised her hands up high to wave a Wyoming flag across the sky, a signal for all the children to gather behind her for a kindness parade. 

Bluebirds — Curt Gowdy’s favorite bird — flew around the edges of all this commotion, not quite chased away by crowds or the gathering of rain clouds in the sky.

Inside Little House, the children knew just what to do, and neither Jerre nor Cheryl could hide their smiles as the children busied themselves coloring up kindness pages and gathering up as many large spinning top toys as their arms could carry to try out on a hearth of fossilized stone.

Curt tells the story of how his sportscasting career began in a humble, unmarked parking lot in his autobiography, “Cowboy at the Mike,” where he called a six-man game of football for a team that had no roster or jerseys. 

Curt rose to the occasion, improvising with names he made up on the spot for them, doing well enough he was offered a job of $30 weekly at a Cheyenne radio station to call more games. 

This was 1943, and he was recovering from a spinal operation that had ended his dreams of becoming a fighter pilot, so he took the job.

After Wyoming, he landed in Oklahoma City, calling football games for University of Oklahoma, where the world would ultimately discover his considerable talent.

Curt would go on to work for ABC, NBC, and CBS and would win 13 Emmys and a Peabody award. 

He has been inducted to 25 halls of fame as well, and he was also host of ABC’s award-winning "The American Sportsman" for more than 20 years, a show in which the Cody native frequently mentioned Wyoming.

Granite State Park, meanwhile, was the boyhood stomping ground when he was growing up in Cheyenne, something he also talks about in his autobiography.

When Curt Gowdy decided to return home for a visit in 1972, state officials decided to rename Granite State Park to Curt Gowdy State Park. 

With 3,500 acres, an average of 7,500 feet in elevation, three reservoirs, and 35 miles of stunning, beautiful trails, it’s easy to see why he so loved the area as a boy.

He counted it among the highest honors in his life to have his state rename his favorite, boyhood stomping ground after him. 

Jerre met Curt on a blind date during a college media night when he was just starting out in Oklahoma City as a sports broadcaster. She was attending the University of Oklahoma, where she was a talented violinist, tap dancer and honor student. 

She would ultimately complete a master’s degree in communications.

It was love at first sight for the couple, who married June 24, 1949, at the Presbyterian Church in New York City on Park Avenue. There, her television communications skills paid off, as she prepped the Kraft Food national commercials. She was also an actress on the weekly Kraft Television Theatre. 

They would have three children together. The first, in 1951, was Cheryl, who is the oldest. She was born in New York City. The other two, both born in Boston, were Trevor and Curt Jr., also in the early 1950s.

“Through 56 years of marriage, he repeatedly said Jerre was the most beautiful girl in Oklahoma,” Cheryl said. 

That’s the same thing he would tell anyone who asked. 

“I married the most beautiful girl in Oklahoma,” he told the Palm Beach Post in 2000. “Three wonderful kids, Yankees, Red Sox, presidents, Olympics, champs and championships, movie stars, Bing Crosby, fishing the Florida Keys, New Zealand, back home in Wyoming. What a time. Can’t beat it.”

Curt died on Feb. 20, 2006 at the age of 86.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Proud To Be Curt’s Wife"}]

Among Jerre’s other many accomplishment, she served as president of the Curt Gowdy Broadcasting corporation from 1963 to 1980, moving to Palm Beach, Florida, with her husband in 1974. Their radio network included six stations, including KCGY FM in Laramie. 

In Palm Beach, Jerre continued her philanthropic efforts, sharing those duties with her daughter Cheryl. These included Children’s Home Society, the oldest adoption service in Florida, the Gulf Stream Boy Scouts, and Do the Zoo (West Palm Beach.)

During the Little House celebration at Curt Gowdy State Park in 2023, Jerre took a few moments to speak. One of the first things she told the crowd was simply, “I’m so proud to be the wife of Curt Gowdy.”

Cheers went up around the room and Jerre smiled back, her eyes glistening as she was overcome with emotion.

When the noise died down enough, she thanked everyone for coming to share a moment of joy with her, before handing the mic back to her daughter, Cheryl. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"A gracious and kind lady, to the end."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Funeral Details"}]

Relatives and friends have been invited to attend Jerre’s funeral services at 10 a.m. Feb. 7 at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 705 Hale Street in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts. 

Burial will follow at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, with arrangements by Campbell Funeral Home, 525 Cabot Street in Beverly Farms. 

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for donations to Curt Gowdy State Park Family Fund, Donor Advisory fund/Wyoming Community Foundation, 1472 N. 5th St., Suite 201, Laramie, Wyoming, 82072, which is a nonprofit. 

Gowdy is survived by her daughter Cheryl of Palm Beach and Boston; son Curt Jr. and his wife Karen of New Canaan, Conn.; son Trevor and his wife GG of Beverly Farms, Mass

five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

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<title>🚧 Jerre Gowdy, Wife Of Sportscaster Curt Gowdy And Philanthropist, Dies At 101 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Known for her charity work and devotion to Wyoming’s Curt Gowdy State Park, Jerre Gowdy, the wife of the late Hall of Fame sportscaster, died last week at age 101. She leaves a legacy of kindness and philanthropy. 

Jerre Gowdy, Wife Of Sportscaster Curt Gowdy And Philanthropist, Dies At 101

Pat maio 600 portrait edited

Pat Maio

TETONIA, Idaho — There’s a secret route that people living in Idaho’s Teton Valley all know about as an alternate route over to the wealthy enclave of Jackson, Wyoming, to do their blue-collar work.

It’s called Reclamation Road, and some locals think it may be time to dust off — or grade with a heavy equipment scraper— this possible route for travel.

To get there, you have to drive 25 miles or so north of Tetonia, look for the Squirrel cemetery near Ashton, then head east on a dirt and gravel road. About half the trip to Ashton is possible at 70 mph. The rest goes about half those speeds — or slower.

[{"type":"text","text":"But there’s no traffic. None. Only potato farms and silos."}]

The road is rough over the Teton mountains and dumps drivers on U.S. Route 191 a dozen or so miles north of Jackson. 

Google maps doesn’t work very well in this part of the Potato Belt. But now that the main artery that connects Jackson with its working-class communities in Idaho is out of commission, no other alternative seems out of the question for consideration.

Tyler Hammond, owner of WreckerBoyz Towing in Driggs, Idaho, won’t go up to Reclamation Road anymore to fetch anyone because they are “tourists and people with RVs, and the cell service isn’t great.”

Everyone in Idaho’s tiny Teton Valley communities knows about Reclamation Road.   

“Reclamation is nicknamed ‘Jeep Trail’ because it’s a little rough in spots,” said Tetonia resident Jim Beard.

Even Jerry Anderson, the front desk clerk of Cobblestone Hotel & Suites in Victor — the first town outside of the Idaho and Wyoming border along Idaho State Route 33 — knows about Reclamation Road.

“I’m going up there on Friday to check it out,” said Anderson, whose hotel Tuesday lowered its $300-a-room charge to $220 to attract guests.

[{"type":"text","text":"WYDOT’s Horse"}]

The Wyoming Department of Transportation isn’t familiar with the Reclamation Road route because it is betting on a faster horse. 

WYDOT’s alternative to a washed out Highway 22 over Teton Pass in Wyoming is the reason why everyone drives more than 100 miles along five highways of bumper-to-bumper traffic from Victor, Idaho, at the border with Wyoming to Jackson.

This alternative route was developed after the 30-minute drive to Jackson was taken away in a landslide from Idahoans, who are frustrated that their blue-collar pay is now complicated with a big commute.

[{"type":"text","text":"Highway 22’s loss in Wyoming is a crushing blow to Idahoans. "}]

Tourism is feeling the slowdown on the Idaho side of the border, and pocketbooks are feeling lighter with the extra money everyone is paying for gasoline at the pump.

In Tetonia, the Sinclair station was charging $3.54 for a gallon of unleaded gas. 

“I miss having tourists around here,” said Erica Black, manager of the gas station. 

This time of year had brought long lines to the gas station, but now a fill-up is quick-in, quick-out, she said. 

Others are getting pinched financially by the fewer tourists in the valley as well.

“People living here have been impacted a lot by the Teton Pass closure,” said Zach Bennett, who runs the Teton Peaks Resort in Tetonia. “We’ve seen a lot of cancellations because everyone thinks there’s nothing to do here.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Tempers also are beginning to flare. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Crashing Gates"}]

At the Idaho-Wyoming border, WYDOT traffic electrician Bryce Clements drove up from Cokeville, Wyoming, to repair the closure gates because an unidentified driver rammed them.  

[{"type":"text","text":"“This is not typical in the summer months,” Clements said. "}]

Earlier in the day, he repaired a closure gate in Wilson, Wyoming, to the east of the landslide when a distracted driver talking on a cellphone hit the gate.

“I’m not sure what is going on,” he said. “This type of stuff happens in the winter.”

Sitting at a picnic table outside the Hot Diggity Dog food stand about a mile north of the Bennett’s Teton Peaks, a group of men were chewing the fat on the traffic mess. 

Beard, Hank Hatch and Os Rigby wondered why WYDOT wasn’t helping out with the grading on the old Reclamation Road that runs up near Grassy Lake Dam in Wyoming by the southern boundary of Yellowstone National Park.  

“Hell, yes,” said Beard when asked whether WYDOT should get involved with improving the road to help the Idaho communities.

Reclamation Road — named after its owner, the Bureau of Reclamation, which manages power and water in the U.S. West — is about a 30-minute drive north of Tetonia over a labyrinth of paved and fine-dirt roads to just north of a tiny community called Squirrel. 

On the turnoff to Reclamation, there’s not much except for a dirt road, a collapsing wooden home from a bygone era and a silo. 

“Over 25% of the people who live here, work there in Jackson,” Beard said. “No one can afford to live there, where people are paying a few thousands of dollars a month in rent.”

Thousands of people who work in Jackson but live in Idaho’s Teton Valley communities are seeing red over the extra driving time. 

A START bus service run out of Jackson charges $16 for a roundtrip ticket to go from Driggs to Jackson, but that assumes an over two- to three-hour ride that begins at 5:10 a.m.

[{"type":"text","text":"Commuters are arriving home as late as 8:30 p.m."}]

START Director Bruce Abel did not return phone calls seeking comment on the service. 

Gale Luna, a START supervisor, said there’s been a small uptick in ridership on the buses this week that are taking about three hours to travel from Driggs to Jackson.

“Call volumes from commuters about the service have gone up about 50% since the weekend,” he said.

With the tourism season typically in full swing this time of year, some residents like the light traffic through the Potato Belt.

“Traffic is definitely down,” said Brett Johnson, a manager of Walters Produce Inc., a potato processing operation that runs a lot of 18-wheeled trucks carrying potatoes.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Most of the traffic was due to tourism,” he said. "}]

While the Potato Belt traffic along SR 33 is lighter than usual, the traffic picks up from Idaho Falls to Jackson. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Tow truck owner Hammond is pulling his hair out in the traffic."}]

Traveling to Jackson wasn’t so bad when he left mid-morning Wednesday, but returning as the rush hour picked up around 3 p.m. took more than two-and-a-half hours, he said.

Related to the extra miles that he’s driving, Hammond raised the price on towing a car from Driggs to Jackson from $375 to $525 with the same charge billed to customers who want cars hauled on a return trip. 

[{"type":"text","text":"“It’s my time and gas that I have to charge for,” Hammond said."}]

Jesse Fritsch, co-owner of Elements Building Specialties in Driggs, said she’s pushing a lot of work off because of the road being out to Jackson.

[{"type":"text","text":"Her business sells appliances to new construction builders near Jackson. "}]

“We’re definitely rescheduling things because of the landslide,” she said. “It’s added to our overall costs because we have to travel around the loop to get to Jackson.”

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<title>🚧 There’s A Secret Road From Idaho To Jackson, But You’ll Probably Need A Jeep | Cowboy State Daily</title>

There’s a secret route that people living in Idaho’s Potato Belt all know about to travel over to the wealthy enclave of Jackson to do their blue-collar work. It’s called Reclamation Road, but it’s not for the faint of heart.

Steve Inman: Sunday, December 1, 2024

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