Jasper Native Receives Third Sagamore of the Wabash

Local Sources- Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb recently named Jasper native Therese Eutsler, PT, CCT, CMTPT/DN, LHD, a Sagamore of the Wabash.  

The award, presented by State Representative Beau Baird of Greencastle, is a personal tribute bestowed to honor those who have rendered distinguished service to the state or to the governor. Now residing in Linden, she is the daughter of Viola Wagner of Jasper and the later Joseph Wagner, PT, and a 1978 graduate of Jasper High School.  Eutsler is a practicing physical therapist at Franciscan Hospital in Crawfordsville.

She recently marked 35 consecutive years as a volunteer with the 500 Festival, 30 of those years with the AES 500 Festival Parade which is nationally and globally streamed on NBC Peacock.  Less than one percent of the festival’s more than 7,000 volunteers attain that level of service.

In 2020, Governor Holcomb appointed her to the newly established Indiana Physical Therapy Board where she currently serves, and for which has served as an alternate delegate to the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy addressing artificial intelligence, augmented reality, robotics, and telemedicine into therapy practice as well as the interjurisdictional license compact.  In 2016, Governor Mike Pence appointed her to the Indiana Board of Podiatric Medicine. She also serves on the Indiana Department of Transportation’s Americans With Disabilities Act Community Advisory Working Group.

In 2022, President Joe Biden appointed her to the US Selective Service System Local Board for the State of Indiana, for which Governor Holcomb nominated her.  In 2021, President Biden presented her with the Presidential Volunteer Service Gold Award and the Presidential Volunteer Service Awards’ President’s Lifetime Achievement Award.  In 2019, President Donald Trump presented her with the PVSA Bonze Award, and in 2020 the Silver Award.

A 1982 graduate of the Indiana University School of Medicine, Eutsler is a physical therapist at Franciscan Alliance in Crawfordsville. She is a Certified Cupping Therapist, Certified Myofascial Trigger Point Therapist-Dry Needling, and specializes in women’s health and orthopaedics.  She is a clinical instructor of physical therapy doctoral students at seven universities and a co-facilitator at the Hesch Institute for Sacroiliac Treatment, Research, and Education in Aurora, Colorado. She has also completed advanced training in the Principles of Dance Medicine.

As a volunteer, Eutsler received the Selective Service System’s Honored Patriot Award from former National Director Gil Coronado in 2001.  She is a 2015 graduate of the FBI Citizens’ Academy.  Locally, Eutsler is a board member, technical crew member, and actor at Sugar Creek Players in Crawfordsville and is a member of the Montgomery County Wellness Coalition.  She is a member of the Byron Cox American Legion Post 72 Auxiliary, Brian Bowman Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1431 Auxiliary, and the Ladies Auxiliary of the Indiana Sons of the American Revolution. 

In 2018, St. Paul Christian University conferred on Eutsler the Doctor of Humane Letters (honoris causa) and the inaugural Lacy Ecumenical Medal.  In 2020, Purdue University Bands and Orchestras presented her with the Block P Award.  Governor Joe Kernan, in 2004, and Governor Mike Pence in 2016, also named her a Sagamore of the Wabash during their administrations.