POY Nominee: Joe Sandrini — Living in service of others

“He works very hard at any task put before him. He gives 120%,” Shawnda Sandrini said of her husband and 2024 NLJ Person of the Year nominee, Joe Sandrini.

Recently retired from a lengthy career in the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and now in a new role as the director of deacon personnel and formation for the Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne, Sandrini has shown that he is not shy about taking on responsibilities.

Sandrini began working for Game and Fish in 1992 in Casper. After serving as a game warden trainee in both Casper and Green River, he was assigned to Newcastle in 1994, where he served as a senior game warden until 2002. He then transferred to Newcastle wildlife biologist, a position he held until his retirement in 2024.

“When (our daughter) Grace was young, (Joe) decided that it was a better family situation if he was a biologist,” Shawnda said.

During his Game and Fish career, Sandrini made his mark as a dedicated and dependable steward of wildlife in his district.

“Sandrini’s commitment to wildlife and professionalism is second to none,” said Justin Binfet, Game and Fish’s deputy wildlife chief.

Various awards also reflect Sandrini’s steadfast dedication to Game and Fish’s mission of “conserving, enhancing and protecting Wyoming’s exceptional fish and wildlife resources and the habitats that support them.”

According to the organization, Sandrini received “many awards, including the Department’s Life Saving Award in 1998, Conservation PaceSetter Award in 2002, Wildlife Division Employee of the Year in 2016, and NWTF’s Henry S. Mosby Award in 2017,” among others.

Considering Sandrini’s successes, it is perhaps not surprising to learn that, at an early age, he already had his heart set on a career with Game and Fish.

“Back in eighth grade, I had said I wanted to be a game warden,” he told the News Letter Journal.

Despite retiring recently, Sandrini is already busy with a new, important position.

On Oct. 16, Sandrini officially went to work for the Catholic Church when he became director of deacon personnel and formation for the Diocese of Cheyenne, although he had assumed the duties the day after retiring from Game and Fish.

There are not quite 30 active deacons in Wyoming, and in this new role, Sandrini oversees the training of deacons. According to Sandrini, who is an ordained deacon assigned to Catholic churches in Newcastle, Upton and Sundance, training for new deacons is the equivalent of college seminary work and takes five years to complete. Formation is a step in the deacon’s life that is ongoing.

As Sandrini’s professional life has shown, he has always been drawn to service-oriented occupations. Therefore, it is in character that he is also a co-founder and serves as the treasurer for the Handgun Hunters Charitable Foundation.

The foundation started as a shooting competition. Held on the third Saturday of June, the competition is “the largest event of its kind in the nation” and brings together handgun hunters from all over the United States.

“The charity grew out of (the competition) because everything is donated, and the money that we raise goes to various charities,” Sandrini said.

When informed that he had been nominated for News Letter Journal Person of the Year, Sandrini asserted that during his three decades in Weston County, he has met people “far more deserving” of this recognition than him. Such humility is in character, considering Sandrini has spent his life in the service of others.