WALSENBURG- Veteran newsman William Knowles passed away Saturday, April 1, after a brief battle with cancer. He was at home, surrounded by family.
Bill’s career with the World Journal began before the newspaper actually – he worked for the Huerfano County World, under Lisa Kellogg. When the current owners bought the HCW in 2010, Bill took a six months leave of absence, then came back aboard with a ferocious desire to dig into complex stories and tell them.
“Bill had the deepest knowledge of anyone I’ve ever met on his stories,” WJ co-owner Brian Orr remembers. “He knew who all the players in a story were, what the back story was, how it all fit together; what he’d end up writing on a topic was just a fraction of what he knew was going on. He was also a solid reporter, in that he knew stuff, but unless he had it solidly verified, he didn’t write about it.”
Bill’s greatest passion was for stories that affected people’s lives. Last year, while investigating a story on black mold invading an apartment complex in Trinidad, Bill offered to pay for the mold testing himself, if that would have expedited the testing process.
“Bill always looked for the human element in his stories,” said WJ co-publisher Gretchen Sporleder-Orr. “How did any given story impact the people of the community, was there injustice being done, and were elected officials being transparent in their dealings.”
Bill’s first beat with the WJ was the La Veta area, where he followed town board details, and soaked up everything he could on water issues.
In 2012, Bill decided to move to Missouri, to help with his wife Jana’s family, but he’d call the office every month or so, just to keep up with that was going on in the area.
The call of the Spanish Peaks grew too strong, and in 2015 Bill and family moved back to Walsenburg, where he was promptly hired back. His new beat was Las Animas County, which he dove into with the same zeal he brought to La Veta.
Bill’s stories have won numerous awards over the years, and he currently has three in contention for this year’s news stories with the Colorado Press Association.
Bill retired in January of this year with intent of writing a book and doing some traveling, but alas, fate had other plans.
Bill was the financial breadwinner for his family, and his death has left them devastated. If Bill’s passion for bringing you the unvarnished news over the past thirteen years touched you, please consider making a donation to help his family in this difficult time. Donations can be brought by the WJ office in Walsenburg (we’ll give you a receipt) and make sure it gets to his family.
