Jack Robert Gage was born in McCook, Nebraska on January 13, 1899, the only child of Dr. and Mrs. Will Vernon Gage. He was schooled in Worland and graduated from Worland High School in 1917. During World War I, he enlisted in the Army Coast Artillery Corps. After the war, he attended the University of Wyoming and received a degree in agriculture in 1924. Gage taught in the high schools of Gillette and Sheridan, managed a bookstore, and was postmaster of Sheridan. In 1934 he was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction. He ran for a second term but was defeated. He was appointed postmaster of Sheridan in 1942. In 1958 he was elected Secretary of State. When Governor J.J. Hickey resigned his position and was appointed to the US Senate following the death of Edwin Keith Thomson, Gage became acting governor on January 2, 1961. He was defeated in the 1962 election for governor.

Gage was a man of many interests. He was active in numerous civic organizations, studied Australian aborigines, lectured widely across the country, and authored several books about Wyoming, including Geography of Wyoming (1940 and reprinted in 1965) and Ten Sleep and No Rest, Pack Of Lies (about the Johnson County Wyoming Invasion).

He married Leona Switzer in 1924 in Laramie and they had two boys, Jack R. Gage, Jr., and Dick C. Gage.

Gage died on March 14, 1970 in Cheyenne.

Message to Legislature, 1961

The Jack R. Gage Collection

• Subject Files
• Adjutant General
• Aeronautics
• Agriculture
• Attorney General
• Auditor
• Capitol Building Commission
• Charities and Reform
• Civil Defense Agency
• Education
• Engineer
• Equalization
• Game and Fish
• Governor's Conference
• Governor's Office
• Highway Department
• Historical Department
• Judicial District
• Labor
• Land
• Legislation
• Library
• Liquor
• Livestock
• Mine Inspector
• Natural Resource Board
• Oil and Gas
• Parks Commission
• Personnel Commission
• Public Health
• Public Service
• Public Welfare
• Reclamation
• Retirement
• Revenue
• Secretary of State
• Supplies
• Travel
• University of Wyoming
• Wyoming Governor's Conference
• Youth Council
• Extraditions & Requisitions
• Charities & Reform - Pardons
• University of Wyoming - Reports
• Appointments - Boards & Commissions

Additional Resources

• Governor Jack R. Gage papers, RG0001.35, Wyoming State Archives.
• Jack R. Gage papers, 1892-1975, Collection Number 00421, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
• "Humor Wins the Day: Jack R. Gage," Wyoming Postscripts, January 13, 2016. (accessed 1/25/2016)