Former Basin mayor: An advocate for Basin, youth

BASIN — Longtime Basin civil servant, teacher and coach Phil Juillard died Sunday, March 5, in Casper.

Juillard, a longtime coach at Burlington, Greybull, Ten Sleep and Basin, was in Casper to watch 1A and 2A state championship basketball action.

He served 36 years with the town of Basin, both as a council member and mayor. He first served the town as a council member for 10 years, then mayor for 22 years. After a two-year break, he sought a four-year term on the council in 2012 with the term ending Dec. 31, 2016.

Basin Mayor Dennis Peters, who also served as chief of police under Juillard, described Juillard as tireless.

“He worked a lot, a lot more than people thought. He didn’t slow down and he continued to work as hard on the council as he did mayor.”

Peters said Juillard was a huge advocate for Basin, especially in Cheyenne when the town needed funding for a project. “He was good that,” he said.

Peters said there were several major projects that Juillard lobbied for funding for and worked on to improve the community, including the raw water system and street improvement. “There’s a host of things he worked on and that he personally went to Cheyenne and lobbied and fought for funding,” Peters said.

“Obviously, he’s going to be sorely missed,” Peters said.

Former council members, educators and referees also remembered Juillard on Monday.

Former Basin Council member Jerry Pyle served with Juillard for 22 years.

“I always enjoyed working with Phil. I always saw him as a very honest person. He cared a lot about the community,” he said. “He was just an all-around good person.”

Pyle said whether it was serving as mayor, or on the many boards that Juillard served on including the Big Horn Regional Joint Powers Board or the Big Horn Basin Transportation Authority, he gave it his all. “We put everything he had into those things to try and get the best for the community. Whatever he did on the council he worked hard at,” Pyle said.

One of the biggest projects Pyle, who is retired from the Wyoming Department of Transportation, worked on with Juillard in the 22 years is paving the town’s streets. “That was our goal to at least get the streets paved.”

He said they also worked together on improving the electrical system.

He added, “I never met such a nice person. One of the nicest persons I’ve met in my life.”

Dave Cooper, fellow council person and also retired WYDOT employee said, “I’ve known Phil for a long time, our kids were in the same class in school.”

“The Town of Basin owes him a big debt of gratitude,” Cooper said, adding that Juillard would spend a lot of his own time and money making trips to Cheyenne working on securing grants for the town.

“We didn’t always see things the same way, but he was always an advocate for the town,” Cooper said. “Whatever he did he thought was best for the town. He did a good job for a lot of years.”

Cooper said Juillard taught and coached Cooper’s children.

Cooper served on the council for 10 years, most of those when Juillard was mayor, he said.

“He wasn’t shy about sharing his faith or being an advocate for the town. He was good at both. And, a good friend as well. We didn’t always see things the same way but we were always friends when we left the office.

COACH, TRACK CLERK AND FAN

Riverside High School Activities Director Shane Schaffner said Juillard was an assistant basketball coach when he was hired.

“He was pretty much a fixture at all of our ball games, even after he retired. He definitely had a spot in the gym, on the bench as a coach or a fan,” Schaffner said.

He said Juillard would attend the post season tournaments and he saw him down at the regional tournament last month in Riverton.

“He was a good man. We sure miss him already,” he said.

Riverside High School Principal said Juillard was teaching music and physical education at Laura Irwin Elementary in Basin when Anson started teaching. He noted that Juillard kept coaching after retiring from teaching. After retiring from coaching, Juillard continued to teach drivers education for the district until last year.

“He was also very community-minded; always willing to give a helping hand and very knowledge about the area,” Anson said. “He’s going to be missed. He was a main person in the town of Basin.

Wyoming High School Activities Association referee and track official Joe White of Lovell said he never officiated at any football games when Juillard was a coach but did officiate basketball games.

“He was kind of a coach you could always talk to. He focused on the court. I always enjoyed to officiate games for him,” White said.

In addition to coaching, Juillard also assisted running track meets where White was the meet director.

“As a track official he was the clerk of course when I was the meet director for many, many years at the regional track meet for 10 years. Earl Jensen of Greybull was the head finish line judge so all three of us worked many, many track meets over the years, including regionals.”

As clerk of course, Juillard was the person athletes checked into when the running events were set to begin. He checked uniforms and answered questions.

“He was always a real joy to work with. You knew you were in a relaxed atmosphere, you could have a little fun but also you were there to do your job. And he did that very well.”

Juillard, White said, was getting ready for the upcoming track season, having spoken to him on Friday when Juillard was watching one of the basketball games about the track test for the WHSAA. “We talked about track all the time,” White said.

“He’ll be missed. There are a lot of people in the officiating and high school sports world in the Big Horn Basin will miss him because he was an icon for many years, especially as the clerk of the course,” White said.

He added, “I’ll definitely miss the guy, he’s a true friend over the years, and a really good guy to work track meets with.”

Memorial service for Juillard will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 11, at the First Baptist Church in Basin.