Wyoming Memories

By Phil Roberts, 2024 An episode on 60 Minutes, about the young people in Mississippi being taught to play chess, reminded me of the residence …

Jeremy and I met and became friends at UW where he was also one of my best students. I’ll never forget mutual journeys over the …

By Phil Roberts, 6-22-2024 Several times during my teaching years, I would assume today’s students would recognize names of famous American celebrities from the past. …

A sample computer card that was used to input data into Wyoming’s first commercial computer, an IBM 1401 card system, installed in September 1960 in …

By Phil Roberts, 4-13-24 One day in mid-summer in the mid-1970s, I drew the lucky duty of measuring the jail cells and interviewing the various …

By Phil Roberts, 3-12-24 I’m quite familiar with “wardrobe malfunction.” For me, it became an issue in my first year on faculty at UWyo. Before …

By Phil Roberts, 12/15/23 We were excited each year for the last day of school before Christmas vacation. First, in Lusk, it was a movie …

Phil Roberts, 11-22-2023 Electronics class that late Friday morning in Worland High School, the last 50-minute class before noon, was routine enough. Each of the …

By Phil Roberts, Oct. 18, 2023 Many years ago, I just went to work in the State Historical Department in Cheyenne and our old car …

Phil Roberts, 8-26-23 For a brief moment yesterday, I was transported back to Nov. 5, 1964, and Mr. Siegle’s typing class. We had just moved …

The carillon on the UW Student Union used to play tunes at 8 a.m., presumably to get faculty, staff, and students cheered up for the …

Many years ago now, I’ received an e-mail from Mark Linz and Neil Hewison at American University in Cairo Press. The manuscript they were awaiting …

By Phil Roberts, 5-22-23 Odd things happen when people try to impress, particularly, newly hired directors of state agencies like Vincent Foley was at the …

By Phil Roberts, 5-15-23 Rainbow Bridge is a spectacular landmark in the Utah desert right next to the shore of Lake Powell, the lake formed …

By Phil Roberts- May 13, 2023 May 13 is the anniversary of the only time I was ever hit by a car—in the crosswalk on …

By Phil Roberts Avocado Hill. That picture of the Wyoming Highway patrolman narrowly dodging that out-of-control semi, reminds me of an incident from the past. …

The world can be brutal to those few, like me, who have a head that is heavier than his feet. I’m among the estimated three …

By Phil Roberts, 9-19-22

By Phil Roberts, 8-10-22 The saga of Anchor Dam in northwest Wyoming, well known to most people, has become symbolic of what happens when engineering …

David, I just found this on the computer. I had written it in August 2005, after the reunion and just before classes had started.  Just …

By Phil Roberts, 9 May 2022 We walked that warm summer afternoon, along the rough trail leading to the top of the Hat Creek Breaks …

By Phil Roberts It is almost unnoticeable in this photo of Barol Lodge at the AMK ranch (inside the borders of Grand Teton National Park), …

By Phil Roberts, Nov. 19, 2021 Hired gunman Tom Horn was hanged on the “Julian gallows” inside the Laramie County Jail 118 years ago tomorrow. …

A few months ago, I wrote about the merits of silver dollars, widely used in most of Wyoming in the 1950s. I neglected to mention …

By Phil Roberts As nice as it sounded, walking and hearing silver dollars clanking in your Levi’s pocket used to have a few down sides. I’m …

By Phil Roberts A 42-year odyssey with a white 1979 Chrysler LeBaron came to an end this week when we sold it to a salvage …

A Reminiscence by Phil Roberts Pumping gas at a filling station was a pretty good job for high school students in those long-ago days before …

By Phil Roberts Olympic records are falling every day…  I’m reminded, more than 50 years after becoming “State Champion,” of the time I finally decided …