Bill Huey, 85, leaves conservationist legacy

Bill Huey, known to some as the godfather of New Mexico wildlife management, died Wednesday at his home in Tesuque — almost a year and a half after the death of his wife of 62 years. Huey, 85, spent more than three decades with the state Game and Fish Department, rising to cabinet secretary of its parent agency. After retirement, he traveled extensively and became an outspoken conservationist. After graduating from Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth, Huey enlisted in the military and reported to Aviation Cadet School in Dallas in 1943. In 1945, he left for England where he was a turret gunner on a B-17 bomber. After the war, he enrolled in New Mexico A&M, now New Mexico State University, in Las Cruces, studying engineering, and soon met another engineering student, Mary Blue of Rochester, N.Y. After an engagement of only a few hours, Huey and Blue were wed. They remained married until her death on March 6, 2009. After graduating in 1948, Huey took a job as a game warden for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, and was posted to Reserve. He would later serve as the department's chief of public affairs and assistant director before Gov. Jerry Apodaca appointed him cabinet secretary of the new Natural Resources Department in 1977. He retired from state government at the end of 1982...more