Fleischli to receive Community Spirit Award

Wyoming Tribune Eagle

CHEYENNE -- A longtime local businessman who spearheaded an effort to fly veterans to Washington, D.C., to see the World War II memorial honoring their service is this year's recipient of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's Community Spirit Award.

Gus Fleischli will be presented with the award at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum. The public is invited to attend.

This is the 15th year the newspaper has recognized people with outstanding records of service to the community, according to L. Michael McCraken, WTE president and publisher.

For the past five years, Fleischli served as chairman of Honor Flight, which took more than 650 Wyoming veterans on a two-day trip to the nation’s capital. Every Wyoming veteran who was able to travel and wanted to go was sent on one of six chartered flights from Casper or Cheyenne. Volunteer nurses and caregivers paid their own way to help care for the veterans, many of whom were in their 90s.

Fleischli got the idea for the Wyoming flights from his involvement in an earlier trip for a group of Northern Colorado veterans and 52 Wyoming veterans that departed

from the Cheyenne airport. After going on that trip and seeing how moved the veterans were by the experience, Fleischli and some veteran and non-veteran friends met at the American Legion to draw up plans for a Wyoming effort.

“It seemed like the right thing to do, and there was a lot of enthusiasm for a Wyoming trip,” Fleischli said. Mike McGee was elected president of Honor Flight Wyoming, and Fred Baggs was named vice president. Both men are past recipients of the Community Spirit Award.

Fleischli contacted Mick McMurry in Casper, an old friend and business associate, and set up a meeting that ultimately resulted in a large donation from the McMurry Foundation. Donations were also received from several Casper banks and business leaders, resulting in the group raising $220,000, enough for two chartered airplanes. In following years, donations were received from businesses and individuals in Cheyenne and other communities to keep the effort going.

Fleischli noted that the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars were very supportive of the effort and got their members involved in promoting the flights. The Wyoming Veterans Commission was also involved.

Asked about their reactions to seeing the memorial, Fleischli said: “The veterans were overwhelmed. Many had tears in their eyes.” In addition to being an emotional experience, the veterans enjoyed the camaraderie with their fellow vets.

“It was amazing how these guys were ready to talk about their experiences, what outfit they were in, where they were stationed,” Fleischli said.

“World War II vets didn’t talk much about the war. We didn’t talk to our kids about it. You wanted to get it out of your system. Most guys just wanted to forget about it.

“It was the most rewarding endeavor that I ever took on,” Fleischli said. “It wasn’t just me. It was a group of people who took something on for other people.”

Fleischli graduated from Cheyenne High School in 1943 and attended the University of Wyoming until World War II intervened. Fleischli joined the Army Air Corps at age 17 and flew 32 missions over Germany as a waist gunner in B-17 bombers until the war ended. He attained the rank of staff sergeant.

Returning to UW and later Cheyenne, he worked in his family’s Studebaker car business until 1955, when he formed a partnership that leased the land and building and operated a Husky Truck Stop in west Cheyenne. It grew to three truck stops along Interstate 80. After 35 years, Fleischli sold the business.

He had also started Fleischli Oil Company, a marketer of bulk fuels and lubricants to commercial accounts in the mining, agriculture, heavy construction and trucking industries, with customers in Nevada and several Rocky Mountain states, including Wyoming and Colorado.

After 40 years in that business, he sold it in 1997. At its peak, the company had more than 200 employees and sales in excess of $80 million.

Fleischli has a long history of involvement in other civic endeavors, especially Cheyenne Frontier Days. He was just 10 years old when he first rode his Shetland pony from his home at Second and Central avenues to Frontier Park.

“They let us in free to watch the rodeo,” Fleischli noted.

He later worked odd jobs on the grounds and helped with security and in 1958 was elected to HEELS, the volunteer organization for CFD.

Fleischli also served as Grounds Committee chairman, and in 1966 and 1967, he was general chairman. He expanded the night show, where the main attraction was chuck wagon races, to include other entertainment. In subsequent years, the night show grew into a major revenue source for CFD.

For more than 20 years after his chairmanship, he also rode in the arena picking up flank straps from the bucking horses. Still involved in the annual western celebration, Fleischli helps move the parade horses downtown from the Frontier Park barns and back.

Fleischli is a former board member for the CFD Old West Museum and served on its development committee to generate memberships and funds.

He is a member and past president of the Cheyenne Quarterback Club and Cowboy Joe Club.

Fleischli was also involved with the Cheyenne LEADS Progress and Prosperity effort to raise money to provide improvements to local business parkways to make them more attractive to prospective new employers. He has also been involved with the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce.

Fleischli also got several of his former high school friends involved in an effort to help raise money for the new Riske Field at Cheyenne’s Central High.

Fleischli has served on the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center Foundation board for the past 10 years. Since 1978, he has served on the University of Wyoming Business School Advisory Board, which helps the school recruit students and find jobs for graduates.

He was appointed by Gov. Dave Freudenthal to the Wyoming Business Council, where he served from 2005 to 2011.

Fleischli also served on the Wyoming Highway Commission for six years, including chairman in 1970 and 1971. He also was president of the U.S. Highway 30 Travel Association, which raised money to advertise in the Chicago and Kansas City markets to promote car travel through Cheyenne in competition with Route 66 and other popular motor routes of the era.

He also served in the Wyoming House of Representatives, and in 1977, during his third term, resigned to run, unsuccessfully, for governor.

Besides Honor Flight, Fleischli said one of his most memorable experiences was receiving an honorary doctor of law diploma from UW in 2011.

Asked about his philosophy of community service, Fleischli said: “When you live in a community, you need to be a part of it by getting involved. The more things you can lend your efforts to, the more rewarding it will be for everybody.”

Fleischli and his wife of 63 years, Patricia, have three children: daughter Keturah Booth Fleischli of Wichita, Kan.; and sons Kris, of Fort Collins, Colo., and Kirk, of Loveland, Colo.

At the Sept. 20 award presentation, Fleischli will receive a tabletop version of the life-size bronze statue of Col. Edward Archibald Slack that the Wyoming Tribune Eagle donated to Cheyenne Frontier Days and unveiled in 1998. The bronze was created by Cheyenne artist Rich Haines and now stands near the Old West Museum.

The bronze, titled “Community Spirit,” was commissioned by the newspaper in 1997 during the 100th anniversary of Cheyenne Frontier Days.

“The statue commemorates Slack’s role in getting Frontier Days started and honors the tremendous community volunteerism and involvement that makes this outstanding event possible,” McCraken said.

Slack was the owner, publisher and editor of the Cheyenne Daily Sun-Leader, a predecessor of the WTE, and is considered by many to be the father of Frontier Days.

He played a major role in developing community support for an annual rodeo celebration after a traveling railroad agent for the Union Pacific suggested that communities along the rail line hold annual festivals to promote passenger traffic.

Slack suggested the name “Frontier Day” for the first event, which was held

Sept. 23, 1897. Following news stories and editorials in Slack’s newspaper, other community leaders jumped on the bandwagon to help create what has grown into the world’s largest outdoor rodeo and Western celebration.

Reader Comments

fran osborn wrote on Sep 20, 2012 4:46 PM:

" a great honor for a great and honorable man !! Max would have been proud of you,too "

Kerri Christensen wrote on Sep 16, 2012 8:59 AM:

" Congrats Gus! Well deserved for an amazing person. You have a heart bigger then your hat! Cheyenne should be proud! I know I am....Love you!! "

AL BENSON wrote on Sep 10, 2012 8:36 AM:

" A GREAT TRIBUTE TO A MAN WHO HAS MORE THAN EARNED IT AND DESERVES IT. A GREAT FRIEND TO MANY OF US! "

Ralphinphnx wrote on Sep 10, 2012 2:22 AM:

" Thanks Gus! A tip of
my 10 gallon cowboy
hat to you for all you
have done and still do
for Cheyenne! Wish that Cheyenne had more
real leaders like Gus
far fewer Mayor Chainsaw Rick Kaysen. "

Ponder wrote on Sep 9, 2012 3:00 PM:

" Gus, thanks for your service and thanks for promoting Cheyenne and Wyoming in all your travels. "