photo courtesy of mthupp.wordpress.com
Dave Walsh 2 Feb ’16
This Wonder is the very definition of a self-made man. He was born in Utah, but it would be Wyoming where he would make his fortune. He graduated from the University of Utah, and took a no-nonsense attitude about business and customer service to the western prairie of Wyoming.
He and his wife staked it all on a little service station and motel. That was just the beginning. Starting in 1952, they worked hard and turned their little venture into the highest volume service station in the United States. Their next stop after Sweetwater County was Cheyenne. In 1965, the couple and their growing family followed the same formula, high-volume fuel sales, comfortable, affordable rooms, and service.
Two years later, it was time to look north. In Casper, they purchased an oil refinery from Mobil Oil. Using that as the supplier of fuel for properties they owned, the family was truly on their way. In the Centennial Year of 1976, he bought Sinclair Oil. He and his family owned properties across the country, he was one of Forbes Magazine’s “Richest Men in America”. And he started it all right here in Wyoming, with Little America.
Robert Earl Holding would pass away on April 19, 2013, at the age of 86.
Earl Holding, a self-made Wonder of Wyoming.