Financial Problems Abound : Teens in Wyoming Maintain ‘Can-Do Attitude’

Only 500,000 citizens live in the almost 100,000 square miles of Wyoming. There is a lot of wide open space to go around. But Glenn Nicholson, a 17-year-old 4-H leader, knows firsthand how tough it is to keep 100 acres to call his own.

“We used to live west of town about 10 miles. It wasn’t a big farm. We lived there nearly eight years,” he said.

His family “tried hard to hang on”: His father spent four days a week on the road as a salesman; his mother worked full time as the county 4-H agent. Glenn did a lot of the farm work--”haying, irrigating, raising my cattle.” Hard work, he acknowledged, but he loved it.

‘We Had to Give It Up’

“It wasn’t because we weren’t trying. We aren’t quitters. But the numbers weren’t there,” Glenn says now. “We only had three years to go to pay it off. We had to give it up.

“We moved to town in January. It’s been a hard transition. I haven’t made it yet.”

Town means Douglas, the Converse County seat. In 1980, when the uranium and coal mines were booming and ranchers and farmers were riding high, the population of the county, 70 miles long and 100 miles wide, peaked at 14,069.

Last year 2,000 fewer folks lived in Converse County. Closed mines and foreclosed farms drove most away.

“Half of the 585 kids in this school have had some financial setback,” said Gale Lane, principal at Douglas High School. “We finally had to go to the board of education and say, ‘We are up to our eyeballs in personal problems in families because of the economy.’ ”

A Can-Do Attitude

Last fall, Lane brought together 70 youngsters, picked at random, to meet with the prosecuting attorney, a minister, a parent and a teacher.

“We discussed our concerns about drugs, drinking, financial setbacks,” said Lane. “We came out of it determined to sell a can-do attitude.

“I tell the kids, ‘You’re a good person, you’re a winner. Everybody has setbacks--look at Churchill, at Gandhi, at Jesus Christ.’ ”

Next fall, the school district’s budget will be cut by 9% and Lane will lose four or five of his 48 teachers.

But college scholarship money for this year’s seniors held steady. Much of the $130,000 was generated locally.

Plenty of Scholarships

“About 60% of this year’s 138 seniors are going on to college,” said Harv Domsalla, the high school guidance counselor. “Three-fourths of those kids are getting some kind of scholarship.”

Amy M. Willox, 17, was fourth in her class. She leaves home next fall with $1,350 in awards, more than half of it from the Douglas Farm Bureau, the Douglas Lions Club and a local family’s endowment.

She plans to study sports physical therapy at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

Amy grew up in the shadow of 10,274-foot Laramie Peak and, until the eighth grade, went to a one-room schoolhouse with no indoor plumbing. When she started high school she moved to an apartment in Douglas, across from the school.

Ranch Not for Her

“I live in town by myself during the week because our ranch is 20 miles away,” she said. “Mom comes in twice or three times a week, bringing meals and food, and she calls every day.”

She said she’s learned from the challenge of living alone. “Being by myself has made me set priorities and take responsibility.”

Her parents’ 15,000-acre cattle spread, the 96 Ranch, was founded by her great-grandfather, James Willox, a watchmaker’s son from Glasgow, Scotland. Her brother, Jim, is the fourth generation of Willox men to carry that name in Converse County. A student at the University of Wyoming, he will probably come home to the family business.

But not Amy.

“I’ve been on a ranch all my life, but I’ve always known I wouldn’t come back and be a ranch wife. I want a career.” She figures that she will stay in Colorado.

‘Hard to Make a Living’

Glenn, who holds down two part-time jobs besides his 4-H and school work, hopes to attend the Air Force Academy. In the long run, his dream is to return home and be a rancher. But he is realistic.

“If I had a family ranch I could inherit there’d be no problem, but when you live in Wyoming you have to accept it’s hard to make a living,” he said.

Despite their different plans, Amy Willox and Glenn Nicholson have a lot in common. They are superb athletes, she in basketball and track, he in football and wrestling. Both study hard. Neither smokes or drinks, they say.

“You have to drive 50 miles to Casper to go to a movie or a nice place to eat,” said Glenn. “There’s nothing much to do here, so a lot of kids drink.”

Economic Woes

He and Amy say they worry less about nuclear war than they do about Wyoming’s faltering economy and its impact on their families and friends.

Unemployment is holding at about 11%. Oil must return to $25 a barrel and farm commodity prices must rise before Wyoming begins to recover from its recession, said Phil Kiner, chief statistician for the state.

Amy’s plan, to stay away after college, is typical. “It’s tough,” Kiner said, “to . . . come back and find a job.”

So what happens to the youngsters who want to own farms and ranches?

“Today, if you want a ranch, you have to marry it or bury it,” said Kiner. “The average guy can’t go out to borrow the money to buy the land and make it go.”

‘We’re Caught in the Rut’

Where will Glenn Nicholson and Amy Willox be 20 years from the glorious green spring of 1987? What awaits them out past the snow-capped summit of Laramie Peak, the landmark that has defined their world for all of their 17 years?

“I want to be happily married, with children, a successful career, and an average, or a little above average, salary,” said Amy.

Glenn’s dream is his father’s dream, the same one that broke on the rocks of financial reality last January.