The Kemmerer Gazette has a new editor, William Billingsley, who comes to Wyoming from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.  As a child, Billingsley said, his family moved around a lot so he is familiar with the challenges of meeting new people and experiencing new places.

“I came in blind to Kemmerer and Wyoming, so what I find most interesting about this place is a story to be continued,” Billingsley said. “I’m looking forward to working with design, news writing and editing.”

Billingsley was born in Salisbury, North Carolina, and lived in many different places, including Virginia and Maine. In 2013, Billingsley joined the U.S. Army and was trained as a combat medic.  He served two years in Germany with stops in the Baltic, Latvia and Lithuania. The last two years of his service were at Fort Carson, Colorado.

“Being in the Army wasn’t as bad as I expected,” he said. He already had the goal to help people and, after taking an aptitude test, Billingsley underwent training and learned to be an EMT. “I really enjoyed it,” he said.

He attended Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, from 2017-21, and recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history and political science.

“In my senior year of college, I worked on the student newspaper. I was the assistant opinion editor, so I learned layout and design and wrote opinion pieces. I really enjoyed the writing and editing so when I saw the ad online for the editor’s position in Kemmerer, I applied, and here I am,” Billingsley said.

When he is not working at the Gazette, Billingsley said he likes to read everything, though fiction is his favorite genre. He also enjoys playing ultimate Frisbee, going for long drives and running. He said he has learned he will have to gradually work up to his running pace in Kemmerer, due to high altitude.