Remembering Jeanne Bryan: State Centennial Director And Wyoming Booster

Longtime Wyoming booster Jeanne Bryan, who was executive director of the Wyoming Centennial Commission from 1989-90, died Jan. 8 in Vail, Arizona, leaving a legacy of love for the Cowboy State, her family and others.

“She was immensely dedicated to Wyoming, enthusiastic, and very competent in anything she set out to do,” said former Gov. Mike Sullivan, who appointed her to the Wyoming Centennial Commission. “I think she was kind of the perfect person to lead the centennial celebration because of her vivacious personality, her competency, and enthusiasm for anything to do with tourism and Wyoming’s history.”

Sullivan said he was sorry to hear that she passed away. He said he had seen from “time to time” in recent years and she was always “full of enthusiasm.”

Bryan’s husband, Gene, former director of the Wyoming Travel Commission, said they met during her role leading the Wyoming Centennial Commission.

“We were married Oct. 6, 1990, she was very fond of saying it was the last of the lasting legacy projects for the Wyoming Centennial,” Gene Bryan said.

Born April 2, 1942, in Denver, Jeanne “got to Wyoming as soon as she could,” Gene Bryan said.

The former Mountain Bell retiree worked with Meals on Wheels, a foster grandparents association, and Wyoming Independent Living before being tapped by Sullivan to head up planning for the state’s 100th birthday celebration. 

The role meant being able to organize an army of volunteers and events that included Arapaho and Shoshone dance performances, cowboy poetry readings, concerts, rodeos, fireworks and community projects. The July 10, 1990, celebration at Cheyenne’s Frontier Park featured a fireworks and laser show, national and international guests, old-fashioned statehood speeches and music from Chris LeDoux.

“The big event in Cheyenne was just appropriate for Wyoming,” Gene Bryan said. “It was just well done without being over the top.”

Longtime Wyoming publisher and current Cowboy State Daily columnist Bill Sniffin characterized both Jeanne and Gene Bryan as friends and “people who got things done.”

“I know in Lander we did a centennial park,” Sniffin said. “She formed committees in every city and every county, and they were all over the state of Wyoming. You’ll find centennial projects that were a result of their efforts.”

‘Organized Person’

Sniffin called Jeanne Bryan a “very organized person.”

Gene Bryan concurred, calling his wife a master organizer and detail-oriented person which served her well in her role.

“You know, when you're working with virtually every community on either a lasting legacy project like a park or whatever, or events, and then, of course, the grand finale, the birthday party on July 10 of 1990 there were lots of details,” he said. “And she was just a master of being able to keep all of those sorted out, and working with her staff and her board.”

Gene Bryan said Jeanne appreciated all the people she was able to work with on the commission, such as Dick Hartman, Bill Dubois and Mary Mead, mother of former Gov. Matt Mead. Those three have preceded Bryan in death.

Jeanne Bryan was a graduate of St. Mary’s High School and had an associate degree in gerontology from the University of Wyoming. Her last working role before a final retirement was in Cody as the administrative assistant for the fledgling Forward Cody economic development agency.

In 2008, the Bryans bought a motor home and took to the road to enjoy some travel time, not knowing where the end of the highway would take them. Gene Bryan said during a visit to the Tucson, Arizona, area they encountered a new development in Vail, Arizona, and decided to retire there.

Jeanne Bryan loved photography and relished shooting rodeo in places like Cheyenne Frontier Days, Kaycee, Wyoming, and the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.

Gene Bryan said as a couple they managed the Team Wyoming Rodeo program for a short time, and Jeanne “earned a well-deserved reputation as a master of the ‘Wrangler butt shot’ of cowboys and bull riders at the annual Team Wyoming NFR Breakfast.”

In retirement, the couple enjoyed local theater, college basketball and baseball, and travel. Gene Bryan said they were “blessed” with opportunities to travel the U.S., Europe, and even made a “life-enhancing trip” to China.

Illness in the past four years of her life meant the travel had to be curtailed. Gene Bryan said a life-long battle with lung issues, complicated by COVID and pneumonia finally claimed Jeanne Bryan’s life.

She kept her love of family and photography all the way to the end.

In addition to her husband, Jeanne Bryan is survived by four children, three stepchildren,14 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and three sisters.

A memorial service is being planned for July 10, Wyoming’s Statehood Day. Gene Bryan said details are still being worked out.

Gene Bryan said in a conversation with a Catholic priest, a good friend of Jeanne’s, he told the priest that he was thankful for Jeanne getting an extra day of life to hear messages from family and friends before she passed.

“But I also told the good Lord, I said, get ready, because here she comes and you will get organized,” he said.

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.