Charles E. "Chuck" Ward

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007

Chuck Ward was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, April  15, 1926 to Joe and Helen Ward. He attended school in LaGrange, Wyoming, graduating in 1944. He served in the US Air Corps until 1946 and then went on to attend  the University of Montana, graduating with a BS degree in Wildlife Technology in 1950. He worked a short time as a Research Biologist for the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Montana, and then in 1951 Chuck began his thirty-one year career with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Initially, Ward worked in Cheyenne as an Education Assistant where he influenced the lives of many young people, by sharing the conservation message. Many of these young people went on to pursue careers in the  conservation  arena. Chuck later became the game warden in Casper. Over the next 20 years he became the voice for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, doing radio programs five nights a week on KTWO and KVOC radio stations. In addition, he became "Mr. Game and Fish" to nearly everyone in the state through his bi-weekly game and fish reports on KTWO TV

As a game warden, Chuck was tenacious. He was known to be out checking hunters and  fishermen when they least expected to encounter a warden. As a  warden he had his finger on the pulse of both wildlife and  the public, and he applied that knowledge to  merge the management of the resource with public demands within his district. At every opportunity he continued his education efforts,  including providing a conservation program for all  ninth grade students in the Natrona County School District. He also presented  a program to all Casper fourth graders on fur-bearing animals and trapping in conjunction with a chapter in  their Wyoming History book on mountain men. One of the students in these classes was the current Chief Game Warden, Jay Lawson.

Chuck was an active member in The Wildlife Society, The American Society of Ecologist and Herpetologists, Phi Sigma Biological Honoree, Wyoming Peace Officers Association, Casper Red Cross Water Safety Commission, Casper Community Board of Recreation Directors, Boy Scouts of America as Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, District and Council Camping and Activities Chairman, Explorer Post Advisor and  the Wyoming Game Wardens Association. Chuck was a certified Casting Instructor for the National Angling and Fly Fishing Organization, NRA Police Firearms Instructor, and Wyoming Hunter Safety Instructor.

Following his retirement in 1981, Chuck continued in the education field as a science and computer science instructor in the Torrington school system, Eastern Wyoming College, and Darby School District, Darby, Montana.  Following retirement from his second career, he and  his wife, Wilma, moved to Puyallup, Washington to  be near their family. Since living in  the  Puyallup  area, he has received  the  President's Volunteer Service Award for volunteer service to the community. This included six years assisting first and second graders improve their reading skills and helping judge the Puyallup School District science fair. 

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