Welcome to the High Plains Education Center here at the Overland Trail Museum, made possible through the generosity of Frank and Gloria Walsh. You’ll notice the High Plains Education Center focuses on the landscape, the people and the industries of the region, including the oil industry, which Frank and Gloria Walsh found their success. The museum is just one of the many places throughout Sterling that reflects the generosity of Frank and Gloria Walsh. They also funded the Sterling Recreation Center’s outdoor pool, the expansion of the Sterling Public Library, the Blue Spruce Residence Hall at Northeastern Junior College, and they helped build the David Walsh Cancer Center at Sterling Regional MedCenter, named in honor of their son, who died of cancer.
Frank Walsh was a U.S. Army Veteran, and got his start with Humble Oil Company, where he met his wife Gloria, who was also working for Humble Oil at the time. The two moved to Sterling in 1955, where he went on to work as an oil extraction consultant.
In a 2007 interview, the couple said they had some luck in the oil industry and wanted to share their good fortune with the community of Sterling in an effort to attract more businesses to the area.
They shied away from the spotlight, opting to have a naming contest for what is now known as Prairie Park, rather than having the facility named in their honor. However, the city of Sterling recognized the Walsh Family’s generosity by renaming Elm Street that runs along the park and Sterling High School, to Walsh Parkway.
If the greatness in a community is measured by the compassionate actions of its members, then Sterling Colorado ranks high on that chart, in part because of Frank and Gloria Walsh, whom we will never forget.