Fort Laramie names new mayor

Council member Joyce Evans takes the reins

Crystal R. Albers
Posted 7/13/18

Fort Laramie’s new mayor never intended to hold the town’s highest office, but Wednesday evening, Joyce Evans took an oath to do just that.

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Fort Laramie names new mayor

Council member Joyce Evans takes the reins

Posted

FORT LARAMIE – Fort Laramie’s new mayor never intended to hold the town’s highest office, but Wednesday evening, Joyce Evans took an oath to do just that. 

The longtime council member and mayor pro tem said she was initially surprised to learn former Mayor Bill Baker would not finish out the last half of his four-year term.

“Bill has purchased a piece of property … his dream property – outside Fort Laramie, and he can’t serve on the council if he lives outside city limits,” Evans explained. “He’s worked hard for the town and will continue to support the community. I’m happy for him, that he gets to move where (he and his family) want to be.”

Evans has lived in Fort Laramie since 2012, however, she grew up on a ranch near Saratoga. After graduating high school there, Evans attended the University of Wyoming where she studied speech-language pathology and met and married her husband, Mike. Mike’s career in the U.S. Air Force took the couple to several different locations, until they landed back at her family’s high-mountain cow-calf ranch and ran the operation for 30-plus years.

“My husband got kicked by cows and run over enough times … it really got difficult to do the work on the ranch, so we decided to experiment with other lifestyles,” Evans said.

Eventually, Mike was offered a job in Canyonlands in Utah with the National Park Service. After a few more moves, Evans and her husband were drawn back to Wyoming to be closer to family. Six years ago, Mike accepted a position at Fort Laramie National Historic Site.

In addition to running the family ranch, Evans worked as a speech pathologist for 19-and-a-half years for public schools in Carbon County, a position which required she return to college to earn her master’s degree. She’s also served as director of the preschool in Saratoga, including providing speech and language services and coordinating the special education program there for 10 years; and worked in early intervention. Locally, she’s been employed by the Goshen County School District, Wyoming Child and Family Services and Independence Rehab in Wheatland at a skilled nursing facility.

“(Mike and I) are very firm believers in, you live where you work … buying locally, the money goes back into communities where you live. That’s why we bought a house here,” Evans said. “We really feel strongly you need to make community where you are and support your community. We chose to live here.”

In 2017, the Evans’ purchased a lot and began building a new house in Fort Laramie.

“We used a local contractor, tried to purchase everything as locally as possible – tiles came from Lingle, bought as much as we could from Torrington, used local craftsman to do electricity and plumbing, labor all done by local people,” Evans said. “Energy efficiency is very important to us … not using more than we need to use.”

Evan’s interests include gardening vegetables and flowers, amateur archaeology, camping and backpacking, outdoor activities, reading, and knitting.

“I don’t get bored. I’ve never been bored in my life,” she said. “We have two daughters, three grandchildren, they live in Laramie and Sheridan. I also love to travel. I’ve been to Germany and most of Scandinavia, Iceland. We plan to travel when we retire.”

As far as her duties as mayor, Evans said infrastructure improvements are key.

“We need to keep the infrastructure programs going – we have a lot started,” she explained. “We have phase two of projects to continue, mainly sewer and water. Streets are a big issue. Just basic infrastructure.

“One of the big things … I work on a lot is building that sense of community among people who live here,” Evans continued. “Helping people be more proactive … I’m excited to see some young families moving in, because I think they make the community. We also have new young council members, which ensures the needs of young people will be addressed.”

Evans also spoke in favor of community beautification, taking advantage of the town’s proximity to the historic site and tourism, and the importance of varying opinions and points of view.

“I think a community is only as strong as its members,” she said. “Fort Laramie has a reputation of being where people come to hide, but I’m really excited to see a lot more people becoming involved in the community, and I think that’s a step in the right direction.

“Fort Laramie has a lot of potential – it can be a lot of different things for a lot of different people, which I think is healthy,” she added. “I’d like to see more diversity of thought … a lot of open debate and open discussion, not anger and acrimony, a lot of discussion on ideas and philosophies.”

At this point, Evans does not plan to run again for the position in two years, but she said she’s ready to put the work in to help Fort Laramie flourish.

“I decided that all I can do is my best, and I’m willing to give it my best,” Evans said. “And I’m really impressed with the staff at the town, people who know their strengths and weaknesses and are willing to put in a lot of extra time.”