Gretchen Neuman

Gretchen Ann Sontag (Neuman) was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on August 9, 1952, to Don and Joan (Miller) Sontag and passed on to eternal peace on November 1, 2022. She and her brother Kurt grew up in an adventurous and loving family. They moved to Houston, Texas in 1965. Gretchen, her brother Kurt, and their parents spent a lot of time with extended family in the beautiful Wyoming summers at the family cabin in Turpin Meadow in Moran, Wyoming where her love and appreciation for Wyoming began. In the 1970s the family built a forever house located in the Teton Wilderness area of Moran. Gretchen attended the University of Wyoming and earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in art. She went on to marry Charles (Dick) Neuman in 1980. They had one child, Chelsea, in 1982.
Gretchen always had pets and some of them were guinea pigs, two ducks (Donald and Domingo), cats, and dogs. Gretchen loved all animals, but the one animal she loved more than anything was dogs. Just to name a few; Herman, Sophie, Missy, Prairie, Twinkle, Chloe, Lilly, and Nelson.
Gretchen never stopped learning about the Wyoming wilderness and geological features and shared her knowledge with her friends and her daughter. Gretchen was an avid traveler and always shared her wonderful adventures with family and friends. Gretchen and Chelsea went on numerous educational adventures. They went on goat packing trips, National Park trips, trips to New York City, trips to watch the Sandhill Crane migration, and trips to Florida’s Sanibel Island.
Gretchen traveled with her friends to New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Joshua Tree, New York City, the Galapagos Islands, the Columbia River, a fall river cruise on the Hudson River, traveling to watch Chelsea play High School and College volleyball, kayaking the southern swamps of South Carolina and more. Gretchen also traveled with Road Scholars groups to continue learning about the world and meeting new friends along the way.
Gretchen made friends wherever she traveled, worked or played and has stayed in touch with friends from when she was a child in Tulsa and other places she lived along the way. Gretchen worked at the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins for several years as a counselor and then taught art at Rawlins High School before moving to Cheyenne, Wyoming in 2003 to teach art at Cheyenne East.
Gretchen earned her IB, International Baccalaureate. while teaching at East. The IB program develops students’ confidence in managing their own learning and making connections between their learning in the classroom and the real world. She also earned her National Board Certification (NBC) which is a voluntary advanced teaching credential that goes beyond state licensure. NBC has national standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do. Gretchen loved teaching art and loved her students.
While living in Rawlins, Gretchen enjoyed exploring the surrounding Red Desert and its unique beauty. She shared her artistic talents with the Rawlins Playmakers creating and painting scenes for their plays. Gretchen played bridge for twenty-three years with the B.E.B.C. and forged lifelong friendships with her bridge playing adventure seeking friends.
Throughout her 50 years in Wyoming, Gretchen grew gardens full of vegetables, fruits, and flowers. She spent hours making her Rawlins, Cheyenne, and Moran houses and yards gorgeous with trees, flowers, and beautiful bushes she planted. Gretchen also spent many wonderful hours creating art which graces the walls of her homes and her friends’ homes.
Gretchen had many loves; her daughter, her precious grandsons, creating and teaching art, gardening and being with her many friends. Gretchen never quit enjoying life and learning. She spent time on backcountry pack trips, yoga classes, book club, long intimate phone calls, or just quiet backyard get-togethers, laughing and creating fun all the while. A yearly Christmas lights tour of Rawlins with Chelsea, Kim, Alana and Carina was a treasured memory.
Aside from her physical beauty, her inner beauty was apparent to all who knew and loved her. She had a passion for life and lived it to the fullest every day. She stood for doing the right things the right way, and always being honest and true to herself and others. Gretchen’s laugh was contagious, she had a fun sense of humor which helped her through many of life’s challenges and had a positive attitude until the end.
Gretchen wanted to thank her special friends, her daughter and her brother for their unselfish help, support, and love through her journey the last year and a half. She was so grateful for the love and concern that you gave her, checking on her, taking her food, driving her to appointments, walking with her, visiting her, taking care of Nelson, helping with the Moran house and just the love shown her daily throughout her battle with pancreatic cancer. She loves you all very much.
Gretchen was preceded in death by her parents, Don and Joan (Miller) Sontag.
Gretchen is survived by her daughter Chelsea Neuman Torres (Gabe), two grandsons, her brother Kurt Sontag, and many friends.
In these moments of grief, Gretchen would like us to stay positive and remember to be the best we can be.
If you wish to remember her, she suggests a donation to an organization that is working to protect the natural environment and wildlife.
A celebration of Gretchen’s life will be held the summer of 2023 with specifics to be announced later.