Former JROTC cadets mourn ‘great teacher’ struck by suspected impaired driver

To Air Force Junior ROTC cadets at Western High School in the ’90s and early 2000s, he was Sgt. Sterner.

Wesley Sterner, a retired Air Force veteran, had a rugged exterior that former cadets said instantly faded once you met him, revealing a man with a strong sense of humor and an infectious joy for life. Sterner was an avid cyclist as well, biking to and from school to help lead the JROTC program.

“He was the man that I always thought would live forever because of just how and who he was as a person,” said Alexis Penn, a former cadet who graduated Western High School in 1997.

That’s why it felt devastating to many when Sterner, 77, died Nov. 2 after a suspected impaired driver struck and killed him while he was riding a bicycle in the northwest valley near West Grand Teton Drive and North Shaumber Road.

The Metropolitan Police Department said the driver, 69-year-old Charles Carter, told police he had used marijuana and drank an “unknown quantity of beers” before he crashed into Sterner, who tried turning his bike to get out of Carter’s path.

Sterner’s death has left some of his former cadets mourning a man they saw as a father figure who helped them navigate the stresses of high school to prepare them for adulthood.

“He was a great, great person and a great teacher for many of us for many years. He’s one that will be missed very much,” Penn said.

‘We looked up to him’

Whether students joined Western High School’s JROTC program with military aspirations, to meet new people or just to avoid physical education, Sterner was one of three ex-military instructors who led the school’s drill teams.

But even though he was a schoolteacher, many former cadets said they viewed Sterner as a father figure and positive male role model.

Amanda Reber, who graduated from Western High School in 2003, said her parents were divorced when she joined Sterner’s program, but through him, Reber said she found a caring man who she could go to for advice and help.

“He was always that person that would always put a smile on your face, even if he didn’t know you and he just met you. He had that beaming personality,” Reber said.

As if he was their father, former cadets said they always wanted to make Sterner proud of them. Reber recalled falling into a cactus the day before a competition in Arizona, but still traveling to compete the next day because she didn’t want to let Sterner down.

“I was in dire pain and agony at the time, but he was so proud,” Reber said. “That meant a lot to me because I still got up there and I didn’t do it for myself. I did it for my team and for him.”

Beyond the drills, Sterner’s former cadets said he taught them life lessons in leadership and confidence-building. Staci Groth, a Western alumnae from 1998, remembered Sterner helping her navigate cruel high school rumors by teaching her to focus less on the noise and reminded her of her own accomplishments.

“He would try to tell us, ‘Look, it’s a tough day today, but it’s going to be better in the future, and the things you learn today, you’re going to use the rest of your life,’” Groth said.

The two other JROTC instructors — Master Sergeant Phillip S. Johnson and Lieutenant Colonel Lee Huntley Jr. — both died a few years ago, former cadets said, leaving Sterner as the last remaining leader of a program the former cadets all found fundamental to their personal and professional growths.

“He wasn’t just like a teacher. He was a friend, family member, he was a dad figure for a lot of us,” Reber said. “We looked up to him, and even after graduation, he was there for all of us still.”

More than a sergeant

While turning teens into capable adults was always Sterner’s goal, former cadets said his lessons also came through in a more practical way by teaching them how to file their own taxes.

Sterner would often work part time to help students and their families fill out their tax forms when filing day came around, former cadets said. Groth recalled Sterner even helping her file taxes after she became a long-term substitute teacher at Western upon graduating.

Sterner’s interest in accounting inspired Penn and Teresa Garcia, a 2002 Western High School graduate, to pursue careers in the field. Garcia said Sterner often showed her how he budgeted for the JROTC program’s out-of-state trips, and Penn said she would help him file forms if he ever got too bogged down.

“I don’t know where I would be without Sgt. Sterner’s guidance and encouragement,” Penn said.

As a first generation American with minimal fiscal literacy, Garcia said Sterner taught her how to handle her own finances. She said she still follows some of the advice he gave her decades ago.

Garcia said she last spoke to Sterner about a year ago, when she told him she planned to pursue earning an accounting degree. When she shared the news, “he told me to let him know my graduation date,” Garcia said.

A memorial for Sterner is planned to take place on Tuesday, where Ghost Bikes Las Vegas founder Pat Treichel said his group will place their signature white bicycle at the site where he died.

For now, he is remembered at the location with a candle, mini American flags and a helmet with sunflowers sprouting out of it that lays beside a nearby tree. Taped to that tree is a letter Reber wrote to Sterner days after she learned of his death.

“You always took pride in your students and always treated us as your own,” Reber wrote in part. “I hope you know how much you meant to a lot of us.”

Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.