Column: Mick and Susie McMurry Were Wyoming Superheroes – Now They’re Both Gone

In Wyoming’s modern history, nobody had ever seen a power couple like Mick and Susie McMurry.  

Nationally, in recent history, you saw famous couples like Bill and Hillary and then Barack and Michelle. Here in Wyoming, we had Mick and Susie McMurry.  

For almost three decades, they were everywhere. How many ribbon cuttings can you attend in your life? But that is what happens when you are a catalyst for good when you are a change agent. When you look at your town and your state and your university and you conclude that “we can do better than this.” 

Whether it was flying around the state and the country in their private jets or helicopters, which read NERD on the side, you knew when the McMurrys were involved.  

Mick and Susie. 

These folks had become Wyoming royalty. But who would poke fun at themselves and call their company NERD? 

So, when you first meet them, instead of glitz and glamor, you got old-time Wyoming. Mick came from a family of contractors who were famous for building roads before he decided to drill for natural gas.  

Susie grew up in tiny Elk Mountain and was a teacher. They were Casper natives and Wyoming to the bone.  

What happens to people when they move from being moderately successful to being super rich? Many folks take the money and run, popping up now and then to help out.   

But not Mick and Susie.  

They looked around and they saw everywhere in their beloved Wyoming needs that were not being met. They saw projects that needed to be done or projects that were stymied because of a lack of dollars.  

I recall running into them all over the place and they were “just folks.”  To be precise, they were just “Wyoming folks.” Folks who cared. 

Here in the Cowboy State, they were our superheroes. And their superpowers were generosity and a willingness to help. They would get personally involved in their projects and yet were famous for not nitpicking. Just get it done! It seemed to be their mantra.  

They gave and they gave and they gave some more. If you had a good project they would listen. One family friend said that Mick’s job was to make the money and Susie’s job was to spend it on good things. But that is not true. They were the ultimate team. They worked together for the good of their home state.  

It was hard to find a critic of the McMurrys. They were both good-hearted and big-hearted.  

Mick once joked to me that it would have been easy to hoard the money but he felt almost a responsibility to put it to better use. To him and Susie, their good fortune was not just their good fortune but good fortune for all of Wyoming. They felt they were blessed. And consequently, we all were blessed, too.  

The way they did all these good works and the impact they have had on Casper, our state, and the University of Wyoming is almost unparalleled.  

The McMurrys were our superheroes but now they are gone. Mick died in 2015. And now Susie has passed away at the age of 76 from complications of her lifelong struggle with diabetes.  

With a heart as big as all of Wyoming, pint-sized Susie McMurry spent most of her lifetime doing good works and giving money to fund worthy projects in the Cowboy State. 

Susie’s husband Mick McMurry and partners discovered the incredible Jonah Field in Sublette County in the 1990s, which was one of the largest natural gas finds in the world. Soon Mick and Susie were among the most wealthy people in the state.  

Their impact on Wyoming is close to unprecedented. The level of their generosity had rarely if ever been seen before in the state.  

Mick and Susie founded the McMurry Foundation, which set new standards in the levels of donations to Casper, Natrona County, the state of Wyoming, the University of Wyoming, and many other causes and places.  

Susie and her husband Mickey were catalysts to make Wyoming a better place. After her husband died she carried on. The McMurry name behind her energy and foresight continued to make big financial donations to worthy causes around the state.  

Susie was well-known for her devotion to causes that affected children. They were instrumental in helping the Casper Boys and Girls Clubs. She was a catalyst in the formation of the Child Development Services facility in Casper.  

She was instrumental in creating the Wyoming Food For Thought, which fights hunger for all people.   Susie took great pride in her husband Mick, his many accomplishments, and their commitment to building a better Wyoming. Susie courageously always thought of others first. She gave from her heart and was a living legacy of joy, kindness, love, and faith. Her life was about blessing others.