Honestly, losing someone is a mess. It's a blur of phone calls, casserole deliveries, and that heavy, hollow feeling in your chest. But in Cheyenne, there is this one constant that most families turn to before the dirt is even moved: the Wyo Tribune Eagle obits.
It’s not just a list of names. It is the community’s bulletin board for grief and celebration.
If you grew up in Laramie County, you know the drill. You grab the paper—or now, pull up the website—and you look to see who we lost. It’s how we keep track of the old shop teachers, the ranchers who survived fifty Wyoming winters, and the neighbors who always had an extra snow shovel.
The Wyoming Tribune Eagle has been around since 1867. Think about that for a second. That is over 150 years of recording the "final chapters" of local lives.
Wyo Tribune Eagle Obits and the Digital Shift
Finding an obituary used to mean clipping a piece of newsprint and tucking it into a family Bible. Now, it’s mostly digital. Most people searching for Wyo Tribune Eagle obits end up on Legacy.com, which handles the paper’s online archives.
It is weirdly efficient. You can search by a last name like "Chubb" or "Johnson" and find a full life story in seconds.
For example, just this past week, the digital archives recorded the passing of Ronald J. Chubb, an 83-year-old who moved here from Kansas City. His life wasn't just a date; it was a narrative about Wyandotte High School and a life built in Cheyenne. That’s the thing about these obituaries—they bridge the gap between a cold statistic and a human legacy.
The Cost of Saying Goodbye
People often ask me if it’s expensive to run a notice. Well, yeah, it can be.
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Starting prices for a basic obituary in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle usually hover around $125. That is the baseline.
If you want to add a photo—and you should, because everyone wants to remember that specific smile—the price climbs. If you get wordy and write a three-column epic about Grandpa’s prize-winning cattle, you’re going to pay for every inch of that space.
- Submission Deadline: Usually 3 p.m. on the Monday before a Thursday print.
- Where it goes: It hits the local print edition and stays on the web permanently.
- The "Extras": Guestbooks where people can leave comments like "So sorry for your loss, he was a great guy."
It’s a business, sure. But for the families, it’s the last time their loved one’s name will be in the headlines.
How to Find Older Wyo Tribune Eagle Obits
If you are doing genealogy or just trying to find an old friend, the search is a bit different. You can't always just Google it if the person passed away in, say, 1974.
The Laramie County Library System is actually a goldmine for this. They keep specific obituary clippings for the Wyo Tribune Eagle obits section dating back to 1955.
They have gaps—like most of 1955 and parts of the early 60s—but from 1982 to the present, they are pretty much spot on. If you need something older than that, you have to go to the Wyoming State Archives.
They have microfilm. It’s slow. It smells like old dust and vinegar. But it’s the only way to find those 19th-century notices from when the paper was still called the Cheyenne Leader.
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Writing a Good One
Don't just list the facts. "He was born, he worked, he died." That’s boring.
The best Wyo Tribune Eagle obits are the ones that sound like a conversation at a wake. Mention the fact that she made the best green chili in the county. Mention that he never missed a Wyoming Cowboys game, even when they were losing by thirty.
Basically, you want to capture the "vibe" of the person.
Why We Still Read Them
In a world where everything is a "breaking news" alert on your phone, the obituary section is slow. It forces you to pause.
You see names of people you haven't thought about in twenty years. You see the names of the funeral homes that have been staples in Cheyenne forever—places like Wiederspahn-Radomsky or Schrader, Aragon & Jacoby.
These businesses are the silent partners in the obituary process. They usually handle the submission for the family, taking one more thing off a grieving person's plate.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
I've seen some messy ones. Honestly, the most common error is getting the service time wrong.
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Imagine fifty people showing up at the church an hour late because of a typo. It happens more than you’d think.
Also, double-check the spelling of the survivors' names. There is nothing like a family feud starting because Aunt Linda's name was spelled "Lynda."
The paper usually reserves the right to edit for length or "appropriateness," but they won't catch your family's internal spelling preferences.
Actionable Steps for Families
If you are currently tasked with handling a notice for the Wyo Tribune Eagle obits page, keep these steps in mind:
- Contact the funeral home first. They often have a direct pipeline to the paper and can sometimes get better rates or handle the formatting for you.
- Gather the basics. You need full legal name, birth/death dates, and a list of "preceded in death by" and "survived by."
- Choose one clear photo. High-resolution digital files work best, but the paper can often scan an old physical print if that's all you have.
- Check the library. If you are looking for an old record, start with the Laramie County Library’s online request form before driving to the state archives.
- Set a budget. Decide ahead of time if you want a "death notice" (just the facts) or a "full obituary" (the story). The price difference is significant.
The paper is located at 702 W Lincolnway in Cheyenne. If you're old school, you can walk in, but most people just use the online portal or let the funeral director handle the heavy lifting.
Ultimately, these records are the heartbeat of Laramie County history. They tell us who we were, who we loved, and who is no longer walking the streets of Cheyenne. It’s the closest thing we have to a permanent memory in a temporary world.