Bill Gentle with his wife Sue. Our Rotarian of The Week may hold the Rotary Club of Cheyenne record in the pole vault, loves a good taco, and is a great conversationalist, as long as you don’t bring up former Dallas Cowboy great Walt Garrison.
This Rotarian hails from Converse County where he graduated from Douglas High School and excelled in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 11 feet, nine inches.
Our Rotarian of the Week developed a strong love of all things equine early in life. After his mother passed away while he was in the fourth grade, our Rotarian of The Week and his brother spent summers and many winter weekends on the Hageman Ranch in Converse County. This Rotarian got his first job at age 13 on the Jim Willox ranch windrowing oats with a horse-drawn binder. In addition, this Rotarian rode horses multiple times a week as well as doing various other ranch jobs. He was paid $125 a month plus room and board. This Rotarian’s first job off the ranch came during high school when he was let out of school to work at the Douglas Sale barn for $1.25 an hour.
After graduation, the Bearcat became an Aggie at New Mexico State where he joined the NMSU’s rodeo program. Our Rotarian was a steer wrestler for three years in college before competing in pro rodeos for six or seven years. During that time, our Bulldogger took part in Cheyenne Frontier Days for three years, but reports he never won a dime for his efforts. His best performance was in one go-around, where he was sitting second after the first day, before former Dallas Cowboy and bulldogger Walt Garrison nosed him out for sixth place in the go-around.
After five years of rodeoing, playing pool, and skiing, our Rotarian earned his degree in Animal Husbandry in New Mexico and would later earn an MBA from the University of Wyoming. He worked at The Wyoming Department of Agriculture for 25 years, doing most every job at the agency including two stints as the deputy director and one as the director.
Bill Gentle’s first job for the Wyoming Department of Agriculture was as a meat inspector in Worland where he met a disc jockey named Sue, who turned out to be one of the few people on the planet that loved horses as much as he did. Bill and Sue will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in June. The couple has made horses a focal point of their lives, having owned up to 11 at one time. Currently, they have five. The Gentle’s marriage netted two children, a daughter who is a nurse in Denver, and a son who ranches in Chugwater and farms in Wheatland.
The Department of Ag is one of three state agencies Gentle would head up, spending time at the head of State Parks and Cultural Resources and serving as one of the Godfathers of the Wyoming Tourism Division of the State Department of Commerce.
Bill has also been a very active Rotary member since joining at the behest of Don Ralston in 1994. Gentle was the Cheyenne Rotary Club President in 2011, was on the program committee for three years, read to elementary students, and ran the Rural Recognition Program for around 15 years, in which Bill and Randy Ford went to local ranches and farms and put together a history of the operations.
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