Richard “Dick” Schuck, a longtime resident of Green River who served as its mayor and as a city council representative as part of a long career in public service, died last Tuesday at the age of 89.
Schuck was born in Milford, Nebraska Aug. 8, 1932 and was a 1950 graduate of Johnson County High School in Buffalo. He earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial education from the University of Wyoming and later earned a master’s degree in industrial technology through the University of Wisconsin.
Shortly after receiving his degree from UW, Schuck came to Green River in 1959 to teach metal shop classes for Sweetwater County School District No. 2.
Schuck started the first high school building trades program in the state while he worked for Sweetwater County School District No. 2 and later headed the vocational program at Western Wyoming Community College. He also became the district director for the Wyoming Education Association.
He served on the Green River City Council for a four-year term in 1965 and was elected Green River’s mayor in 1969 when he was 36 years old.
During that time, the city’s first shopping center at Hutton Heights was built and the city completed a portion of the paving work for Green River’s south side.
However, by his recollection, the thing people most remember about his time as mayor is the establishment of the city’s landfill.
Speaking to the Star in 2016, Shuck said the town’s residents had initially burned their garbage, including engine oil. He said the smoke and odors from the different types of waste could be smelled throughout Green River.
“There was all kinds of smells,” he said. “Nobody paid any attention to what they burned.”
Schuck said opposition to a landfill ordinance was almost immediate. He recalled speaking with a city mechanic about burning garbage, telling the mechanic other towns didn’t burn their trash like Green River did. Lawyers and doctors opposed the proposal believing confidentiality would be breached by someone who could go through their garbage and find documents. Schuck was working with the Wyoming Association of Municipalities while pushing for the ordinance and knew federal regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency were coming that Green River would have to follow. It wasn’t a matter of if, but when Green River would need to comply.
“None of it was a lot of work, it just takes time,” Schuck told the Star. “Everybody thought ‘why change?’”
The first landfill was established near Highway 530 using land purchased from the Bureau of Land Management at a cost Schuck believed to be $1.
“We started with just one truck and three people,” he said.
Green River would become an example for other Wyoming communities to follow when others began establishing municipal landfills and representatives from throughout the state visited Green River to learn about its landfill system.
Current Mayor Pete Rust said developing a landfill for the city was “huge” for Green River because it not only ended the practice of burning trash, it also severely cut down the amount of trash that wound up in the surrounding landscape.
“Green River had an exemplary landfill for years,” Rust said.
Green River’s landfill would grow, but eventually changes in rules with a focus on protecting groundwater from chemical seepage would result in the city closing its landfill in 2017.
Outside of his service with the Green River City Council, Schuck was a member of the Jaycees, serving as its president for one year, and a member of the Green River Lions Club, serving as that organization’s president for two years. He also owned membership number one at Rolling Green Country Club.Green River City Administrator Reed Clevenger, who also serves as Rolling Green Country Club’s board president, said the board intends to talk about a means of honoring him at club’s board meeting later today.
Rust said the city received permission to fly flags at half-mast, saying plans are currently to lower flags in Green River Monday.
“We’ll find a way to honor him,” Rust said.
Funeral services for Schuck will be Monday at 11 a.m. at the Mt. of Olives Lutheran Church, 2916 Foothill Blvd., in Rock Springs, followed by graveside services at Riverview Cemetery in Green River. Immediately following the services, a celebration of life will take place at Tom Whitmore Post 28 at 38 North Center Street in Green River.
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