Wyoming Through And Through: Senator Barrasso Comments on His Friend Pete Williams’ Retirement
It was announced on Thursday morning that Casper native, NCHS Graduate, and NBC News correspondent Pete Williams is set to retire in July.
The announcement led to an outpouring of support from friends, former colleagues, and more.
One of Williams' closest friends is Senator John Barrasso.
Read More: One of Ours: Casper Native, News Legend Pete Williams Retiring From NBC News
The Washington Post reported that Williams and Barrasso became friends while Williams was working for KTWO-TV.
"He is also close with Sen. John Barrasso, a Republican, dating back to their roots in Wyoming, where Williams was born and Barrasso is the senior senator," The Post reported. "While Williams worked for a local television station in Wyoming after college, he encouraged Barrasso, then working as an orthopedic surgeon, to contribute to health reports on the station, KTWO. They have been friends ever since, though Barrasso said that 'he is a news reporter first.'”
The two kind of came of age together. Their careers grew in parallel with each other, with Barrasso becoming Wyoming's Senator, and Williams becoming the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, under the George H. W. Bush administration. The would see each other often in Washington, nodding knowingly to each other as two Wyoming boys who most definitely made good.
After learning of Williams' retirement, Senator Barrasso had some encouraging words for his friend.
“Pete and I have been friends since his days working as the News Director at KTWO," Senator Barrasso told K2 Radio News. "We hosted the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon together in Wyoming for years. Pete was a mature, experienced, and trusted voice for news in Wyoming when he was still in his 20s. He was the must-see TV reporter for reliable news in Wyoming.
"Throughout his career, he was trusted on both sides of the aisle. He was very quick at taking a complicated issue and simplifying it without dumbing it down. Pete was capable of doing anything he would have wanted, and he was very, very well-liked. He was Wyoming through and through. He may have left Wyoming, but Wyoming never left him. People across Wyoming and the country will certainly miss Pete’s trustworthy reporting.”