WASHINGTON, Washington County — Classic car collectors gathered Friday morning for a procession in remembrance of Dennis “Deny” Rutkoskie, who died while driving his Model T Ford last month.

The procession was held on what would have been Rutkoskie’s 85th birthday. According to friends, he was a well-known figure in the classic-car collecting community in southern Utah and owned more than 20 classic cars, which he showcased at his shop in Washington.

Longtime friend Doug Chambers brought his 2006 Ford Mustang to the event and said that the procession was less about cars and more about honoring the great man Rutkoskie truly was.

“He was always a great guy, and every week we would meet at Cracker Barrel for what we called, Hot Rod Hangout,” Chambers said. “He would drive a different car every time, it might be a Rolls-Royce one week, and the next week it would be the Model T, or it could be one of his 1904 racers.

“(Losing Deny) was a shock — just a gut punch,” he added. “Myself and my friends couldn’t believe it was real, and then we started seeing pictures on social media and KSL. It’s hard to believe. … When we lose someone, it’s really hard.”

The procession, which included upwards of 50 classic cars, started at the Walmart in Washington City and went down Washington Fields Road all the way to Rutkoskie’s car museum. It was led by local law enforcement and spearheaded by friends such as Tony Lonnett, president of the Desert Rodders Car Club of Southwest Utah.

Lonnett spoke of Rutkoskie’s generosity and reflected on spending time with him during the annual Shop With a Cop event, to which Rutkoskie was a large donor.

“This is a sad event, but it’s going to be really joyous,” he said. “(The procession) shows respect for a man who had the love of cars and enjoyed them immensely. (Deny’s) the kind of guy who made me reflect on how to be a better man. That’s Denny.”

4 things to know about the weather:

1. Summer sizzle
2. A bit humid Saturday
3. Isolated weekend storms
4. Cooler early next week

Saturday comes with a steady increase in clouds and a chance for some scattered storms after sunset and into the overnight hours. Rain chances will peak at barely 30% from 9 p.m. Saturday until 7 a.m. Sunday, as a cold front slides through the area.

The cooler air will lag a bit behind the front, so Sunday temperatures will still climb to around 90°. The difference you’ll feel Sunday will be a steady drop in humidity levels, thanks to a northwest breeze.

Much more pleasant weather is still on track for early next week. Monday and Tuesday will both be sunny and seasonably warm, with highs in the low 80s and overnight lows in the 50s for everywhere but the urban centers.

Hotter and more humid weather is expected later next week. No widespread rain is in the forecast, but afternoon storms will be much more common, so spotty drought relief is at least a possibility.

Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.

QuickCast

SATURDAY:
Partly cloudy, hot
Breezy afternoon
Late evening shower possible
Wind: southwest 12-22 mph
Chance of rain: 20%
Highs: 90° to 95°

SUNDAY:
Mostly cloudy, hot
Scattered storms possible
Wind: northwest 5-15 mph
Chance of rain: 30%
Highs: 88° to 92°

MONDAY:
Sunny skies
Cooler
Definitely less humid
Wind: east 10-18 mph
Chance of rain: 0%
Highs: 78° to 84°

Sunrise: 5:44 a.m. // Sunset: 8:30 p.m.
Average High: 82° // Average Low: 64°

Stay with Storm Team4 for the latest forecast. Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to get severe weather alerts on your phone.

Wyoming’s economy has a problem: The population is shrinking rapidly. In less than five years, the number of deaths could eclipse births. That could make it hard for rural towns to keep enough families to keep schools open or enough youthful entrepreneurs to start new businesses.

But there is one bright spot.

Between 2020 and 2025, “rural Wyoming gained about 8,400 new residents during that time, and nearly 30% of that growth, which equals around 2,600 people, came from international migration,” said The Daily Yonder rural data journalist Sarah Melotte. She’s been covering how immigration is staunching rural America’s population decline in states like Kentucky and Wyoming. “So a huge part of Wyoming’s rural population growth is coming from people who were born outside the U.S.”

But as Wyoming adopts more hardline immigration policies, some immigrants are choosing to leave.

Case in point: 27-year-old Ana Castro. She came to Jackson at age seven. Growing up, she got straight A’s and started volunteering in high school.

“I joined the Rotary Club. I was actually the Rotary student-of-the-month at one point,” Castro said over Zoom from her new apartment in Mexico City. “I joined the Latina Leadership program, which also has connections to the University of Wyoming. I joined different student organizations. I also was dabbling in immigration work at the time, and I was just very passionate about social causes.”

But Castro didn’t consider herself a Wyomingite until she got a full Hathaway scholarship to the University of Wyoming. There she earned a degree in criminal justice and eventually a job working for Laramie Main Street, a nonprofit advocating for local businesses. She helped found the Wyoming chapter of Juntos, an immigrant advocacy group, and sat on the boards of both the Laramie Plains Civic Center and the Laramie Public Art Coalition.

All the while, she was trying to get legal citizenship. Both of her sisters are legal citizens – one was born in the U.S. and the other married a citizen – and her mom has permanent residency because she was able to claim amnesty. That option was available to Ana as well but required testifying about traumatic events. Her mental health issues made this impossible.

“ I tried every single avenue to try to fix my status, and I exhausted all my options,” said Castro.

After Trump’s election, Castro began feeling unsafe. Especially when friends warned of ICE sightings in Laramie.

“I started to get really paranoid,” Castro said. “In the spring, we had a few incidents where immigration, whether it was a rumor – and there were a couple times where it wasn’t a rumor and immigration was present in Laramie. I remember I had to pack up all my stuff from the office at Main Street and [my boss] took me home one time. [Another time] my coworker drove me home.”

Castro had a mental health break. She couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep.

“I remember laying in bed and just thinking, ‘Okay, I think I have to leave,’ in order to protect myself and in order to be able to move forward in a way that I felt was dignified,” said Castro through tears.

Her community in Laramie threw her a going away party.

Three months later, Castro flew to Mexico City, population 9 million. She hadn’t lived in a city larger than 30,000 since she was a child. She left behind all her belongings and her beloved dog, Paco, taking only two small suitcases and a carry-on. It was a difficult transition. For the first month, she lived with an aunt and uncle she barely remembered.

“I remember sobbing and saying, ‘You don’t understand because I had my future planned out. I had my entire future planned out in this beautiful community that I adored in the state that I loved and was so proud to be from.’”

Castro thought that future would include growing the Laramie arts and culture community. She’d been doing that by teaching pottery at the Laramie Plains Civic Center.

There, Jessica Brauer, the director of the center, went on a search to find signs of Castro. She made a beeline for the pottery studio where Castro spent much of her time.

“I’m curious if there’s any of her pieces left here,” Brauer said.

She looked over the name tags of artists on the shelves, but Castro’s name was gone. All of her artwork had been taken away, too.

“She taught workshops in here with Laramie Public Art. She made her own art that she sold,” Brauer said.

In a recent op-ed she wrote for WyoFile, Brauer said people like Castro are leaving because Wyoming is sending a message of cruelty.

“I think when Governor Gordon announced his support of ICE, I think that was probably a moment in which Ana and many people around the state said, ‘Well, that changes the risk I’m willing to take to stay in this place.’”

Brauer said that message is hurting nonprofits. For instance, she’s not getting as many volunteers these days and not as many organizations are partnering with hers.

“That weight is on my shoulders and it’s impossibly unsustainable.”

Rural data journalist Sarah Melotte said last year Albany County would have lost 158 people but instead it grew by 13 people, thanks to a foreign-born influx. Other counties have benefitted, too, Platte County perhaps most of all.

 ”In the five-year period between 2020 and 2025, Platte County didn’t see all that much population change as a net change. However, between 2020 and 2025, they saw almost 80 new residents from international immigration. So they would’ve lost population, and that’s not an insignificant number, considering this is a small rural county,” Melotte said.

Goshen County is gaining almost all of its growth from an immigrant influx. But Melotte said recent immigration policies may be causing a chilling effect for these counties.

“Population decline can hollow out essential workers from rural communities and decrease the tax base that towns rely on to keep lights on, to pay administrators. There are fewer nurses, there are fewer teachers,” she said.

According to U.S. census data, 26% of the state’s service jobs are held by immigrants, compared to 16% of locals. Immigrants are also twice as likely as locals to fill construction jobs. Same goes for jobs in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector. Plus, the state’s immigrant population is quite a bit younger. While only 26% of locals are working age, 44% of immigrants are.

“I think a lot of these jobs that normally would be held by Wyoming citizens are being held by immigrants,” said Platte County Representative Jeremy Haroldson, a founding member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus that supports Trump’s deportation policies.

“When we pay out a wage to someone who’s not keeping that money in our communities or in our economy, we lower the level of our pond,” Haroldson said. “We are now at a point across the nation where we’ve watched the immigration workforce lower the level in the pond. I understand they’ve got families they’re feeding, they’ve got loved ones they’re taking care of, and I’m not at all upset about that. But I do understand the economic driver that it does for our entire economy, that is very detrimental.”

Still, Haroldson is sympathetic to Castro’s situation.

“If you consider yourself a Wyomingite, that’s awesome,” he said. “Let’s make the paperwork to make you a Wyomingite. That said, we also need to make sure that it isn’t so hard for these individuals to do that that’s an impossibility.”

It might be too late for Castro. She found an apartment, is working remotely for Laramie Main Street and making friends.

“I mean, here I have free healthcare,” Castro said. “I’m free. I have so much peace and calm.”

Castro has no plans to try to return to Wyoming.