State Patrol’s longest-serving worker retires

SEATTLE – The Washington State Patrol’s longest-serving employee retired this month after a 48-year-career.

Will “Bill” Dretke of Burlington, whose last assignment as a communications supervisor was at the Marysville office, said the biggest change since he started as a dispatcher in 1957 was computer communications. It used to take 30 or 40 minutes by radio and teletype to run a wanted-person check that now takes seconds.

Born in Plummer, Idaho, Dretke’s family relocated to Rosalia, about 25 miles south of Spokane, where his father served as chief of police. After graduating from high school, Dretke worked in a Texaco service station where he met a trooper who suggested he pursue a career in the Washington State Patrol.

His first assignment was in the state patrol’s Kennewick office.