LARAMIE – Larry Gubbels never went to college, but a new scholarship at the University of Wyoming named for the late UW trustee will help disabled students reap the benefits of higher education for years to come.

Larry Gubbels’ family announced a $50,000 endowment Thursday during a lunch and ceremony with the UW Board of Trustees. Each year, the endowment will fund two scholarships for individuals with physical disabilities.

“Students confined to a wheelchair would have preference,” said Martin Gubbels, the former trustee’s son. “If there’s not enough applicants … who are wheelchair bound, it would go to a physically handicapped student.”

The scholarship’s preference seeks out students who share the disability Larry Gubbels lived with for a good portion of his life after a car crash left him a paraplegic during his mid-40s.

“I was actually driving the vehicle back in 1989,” Martin Gubbels said. “We were out pheasant-hunting and coming back home when about 60 head of deer decided to stand right in the middle of the interstate and we hit those deer and rolled a vehicle. That left him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.”

But that result did not deter Larry Gubbels, who went on running the car dealership he owned, Martin Gubbels said.

“Dad was really lucky,” he said. “We made a few changes, made the bathrooms (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible at his old dealership in Douglas, changed his office a little bit and — boom — he was back in charge as soon as he came back from the rehab center. He was able to do his job every day, but not everyone is that lucky when they have an accident.”

The Gubbels family recognized not everyone in their father’s situation could adjust so easily.

“Many times, handicapped people … can’t return to their job,” Martin Gubbels said. “If I was a railroader or a coal miner here in Wyoming, or a oil field worker — well, I probably can’t do many of the jobs in those fields and make good money, being in a wheelchair.”

The Larry C. Gubbels Family Memorial Scholarship, managed through the UW Foundation and kicking off in fall 2018, seeks to ease this difficulty faced by many potential students with disabilities.

“Many times, people do have to start over in life if they do have an accident that leaves them in a chair or with a major handicap,” Martin Gubbels said. “They don’t get special money just because they’re handicapped to go to the University of Wyoming. Somebody is actually giving them some assistance so they can shift those gears in life and start with a new career.”

Larry Gubbels was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2013 by Gov. Matt Mead and came to appreciate what universities could offer their students and graduates, Martin Gubbels said.

“He really enjoyed this appointment,” he said. “He took it on like he took everything else in life and took 110 percent.”

Coming into his appointment, the fiscally conservative Douglas businessman was skeptical of spending money on research facilities and other large projects, Martin Gubbels said.

“Then he’d see the buildings and understand that sometimes you can grow – that having these new and modern buildings can attract more and more students and make Wyoming a better place to live and learn,” he said.

The scholarship announcement ceremony gave the remaining trustees an opportunity to remember one of their own.

“Larry was the finest, kindest gentleman I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing,” Board President John MacPherson said. “He was just a great, great guy. And beyond that, he was a great board member – his contributions are sorely missed on the board.”

Board Secretary Jeff Marsh agreed.

“He was a fine gentleman,” Marsh said. “The university is very grateful for the family’s gift. It’s a neat way to continue his legacy with the University of Wyoming.”

Martin Gubbels said establishing the scholarship brought some closure to the family.

“It’s one way for his independence and his life to live on,” he said.