William "Bill" Lee Pridgeon

William "Bill" Lee Pridgeon age 71,  of Beulah, WY passed away on Saturday, February 15, 2025 at Glendo Reservoir.  A celebration of his life will be on Saturday, February 22, 2025 at 1:30 p.m. at Arts & Celebration by the Creek in Gillette, WY. William “Bill” Lee Pridgeon, 71, loved the Wyoming outdoors and thoroughly enjoyed sharing his experiences with his family and extended family. His passions were to hunt, fish and hunt some more - even getting started planning the next year’s hunt immediately after the latest one ended. On April 6, 1953, Bill was born on his mother’s birthday to John and Clarice (Thompson) Pridgeon in Newcastle, WY. He spent his childhood west of Moorcroft at the Donkey Creek True companies camp where he would get into many escapades with his friend Charlie Norris. In 1971, Bill graduated from Moorcroft High School, where he excelled at wrestling, placing first at state. He loved facing off against his cousin, Tom Pridgeon, who wrestled in the same weight class at Sundance High School and was Bill’s lifelong friend. Bill served as a combat medic in the U.S. Army from 1973 to 1976 earning the rank of E5 Sargent. He took part in an overseas tour between 1973 and 1974 in South Korea where he transported patients to MASH Units – this explains his hate for rice. His hate for sand came from being stationed in Fort Sewart, Georgia. After the Army, Bill would meet and later marry Lyndia “Kim” Boothe and welcome her son, Steven Morgado, into his life. They had their son Mike Pridgeon shortly after. On Christmas Eve, 1983, Bill married Elaine Pickett at Devil’s Tower, where temperatures were minus 24 degrees below zero, likely the coldest and shortest ceremony on record! Bill and Elaine would go on have three more children, Tim Pridgeon, Matt Pridgeon and Amy “Oops” (Pridgeon) Stetson to make it five. Following in his father’s footsteps, Bill worked for Belle Fourche Pipeline (a True company) from 1989 to 2012. He worked out of the Hilight Field and his children enjoyed a similar upbringing at the True Company camp near Wright where they all attended school. Bill always volunteered his time and energy to teaching and helping young people. He was a mentor to many and acquired a lot of bonus children through his selfless actions. One of these many instances was coaching Little League Baseball and would later take his Babe Ruth baseball team to the state tournament in 2001. With all his endeavors there were a lot of late nights, but he would always be at work the next day. Due to health reasons, Bill retired in 2012 at which time he and Elaine moved to Sand Creek, near Beulah, WY. After many years of hunts and planning for hunts, Elaine made a rule that Bill had to wait until Jan. 1 to start planning his next hunt. Regardless, Bill always had a plan in place for enjoying the outdoors whether it was hunting season or not. Those plans created great memories up to and including his very last adventure. These will never be forgotten by those who shared Bill’s great experiences and heard all the stories he had to share. Bill died with his boots on experiencing life in the outdoors with his family and friends. Bill is preceded in death by his brothers “Baby” Mike Pridgeon and C. John Pridgeon, his father John Pridgeon, his sister-in-law Randy Pridgeon, and his bonus son Ben Hughes. Aaron Michael Fletcher, a bonus son, also died with Bill at Glendo Reservoir. He is survived by his wife, mother Clarice, children Micheal (Kim) Pridgeon, Timothy (Angela) Pridgeon, Matthew (Cheryl) Pridgeon, Amy (Pat) Stetson, Steven (Stephanie) Morgado, bonus sons Nick Watt (Ashley) and Justin (Mandy) Robb, his brothers Richard Pridgeon, and Hank Pridgeon his sister Nancy Jennings, and his grandchildren Grace, Abby, Jocelyn, Camden, Violet, Isabel, Elliot, Charlie Pridgeon, Demi, Jules, Emmit Stetson, KyLee, Hailee, Kinzlee Morgado, and bonus grandchildren Logan, Bret, Mya, Jackson Robb, Bradley, and Conner Watt.