09/14/2026
The Casper College Speech and Debate family is heartbroken to share that the incomparable Gretchen Wheeler has passed away after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease and dementia.
For those of us who came after Gretchen, it can be difficult to explain where her work ends and ours begins. So much of what this program is today rests on things she built, students she believed in, and people she persuaded to come along for the ride.
Gretchen joined Casper College in 1986 and became one of the godmothers of our program. Dr. Grant Wilson, her colleague for 31 years, said Gretchen “took forensics to a whole new level at Casper College.” Through her coaching, teaching, and work in theatre, she inspired thousands of students. Her energy, Grant said, was a constant source of motivation.
Her job description was never going to be big enough for her. Gretchen helped establish Casper College’s beloved Service Learning program, worked with the Help Yourself Academy, directed the musical *Legally Blonde* for nine sold-out audiences, and led students to many international forensics tournament in Europe, South America, and Canada. Dr. Pete Van Houten remembered that Gretchen “always embraced adventure with open arms.” She did not shy away from a challenge, especially when students stood to benefit from it.
She expected a lot from those students. A longtime colleague of Gretchen's, Ebba Stedillie, remembers one of Gretchen’s favorite slogans: “If you can’t run with the big dogs, stay on the porch!” Gretchen knew that students from a small community college in Wyoming could compete with anyone, and she coached them accordingly. She believed in hard work, Ebba said, but she played just as hard and made sure students enjoyed the trip along the way.
The results speak for themselves. Surviving Phi Rho Pi records from 1996 through 2006 document more than 40 national recognitions earned by Casper College students and teams. Gretchen coached national champions in debate, impromptu speaking, prose interpretation, and speech to entertain. Amy Cram earned a national debate gold and the Lynch-Grossman Award. Casper College won the 1997 Gold Debate Sweepstakes Award. In 2004, Isaac Camargo earned two national golds and the peer-selected Warren-Dahlin Student Fellowship Award.
One result feels especially meaningful now. In 1998, Casper College earned national silver in Interpreters’ Theatre for *In the Name of Science*. The cast included Gretchen’s daughter, Megan Wheeler; Jessica Hurless, who would later coach the Casper College team; and future Wyoming Speech Hall of Fame inductee Ashley Landen-Schulz.
Ashley now leads the program at LCCC in Cheyenne. “I have a picture of her on my office desk,” she said, “and I try to channel her spirit in my new coaching position every day. She was an extraordinary coach and human.”
Gretchen’s influence reached far beyond Casper. She served Phi Rho Pi as Vice President for Association from 1992 through 1995 and as President from 1998 through 2004. She received the Collie-Taylor Coach Fellowship Award, the Phi Rho Pi Service Award, and the Distinguished Service Award. Today, one of Phi Rho Pi’s national sweepstakes divisions bears her name.
Those titles tell only part of that story. Dr. Duane Fish, her longtime friend and colleague, credits Gretchen with helping him become Phi Rho Pi’s National Tournament Director, “bucking the California contingent” to make it happen. What Duane remembers most, though, is her infectious laugh. They laughed all the time. Her forensics colleagues became some of her closest friends because, as Duane put it, “Gretchen was the best of the best.”
She also had a habit of recruiting people into the future she imagined. For years, Gretchen tried to persuade her close coaching friend Dr. Jonah Rice to leave Southeastern Illinois College and join her in Casper. Doug Hall had competed for Jonah at SIC, so when Casper College hired Doug instead, Gretchen joked that since she could never get Jonah, Doug would have to do.
At the 2014 Phi Rho Pi tournament in Denver, she made a similar pitch to another of Jonah’s former students, Ethan Fife, urging him to leave the private sector and come teach and coach at Casper College. Ethan laughed it off at the time. Today, Doug and Ethan lead the program together. Gretchen, it turns out, could see some things coming before the rest of us.
Casper College honored Gretchen with the Judith Bailey Scully Award in 2015. The award recognized something her students and colleagues had known for years: Gretchen never stopped fighting for the people she taught. She was described as someone determined to “crusade for our students and provide the best education each day both in and out of the classroom.” That wasn’t just her approach to education. It was who she was.
Jonah Rice said Gretchen “stood for what’s right in this world.” She was positive, other-oriented, and genuine. He still finds himself asking a simple question: “WWGD?”
What would Gretchen do?
“The right thing. The kind thing. The best thing.”
Gretchen’s family has established the Gretchen Wheeler Communications Scholarship Fund through the Casper College Foundation. Those wishing to honor her and continue her commitment to students may contribute directly to the fund through the Foundation.
Rest well, Gretchen. We will miss your energy, your advocacy, your sense of adventure, and that infectious laugh. When we aren’t sure what comes next, we’ll keep asking the question.
What would Gretchen do?
