HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- Working in finance and resources for the Air Force Materiel Command is her day job, but on the side one Hill employee is an elite athlete preparing to compete at the highest level of competition.
Audrey Wilson, formerly with the Ogden Air Logistics Complex Finance Directorate, is a member of the USA Casting Team and in August will compete in Norway at the Fly Casting World Championships.
Wilson grew up in Roy, Utah, where she fell in love with the outdoors as a small girl while camping, hiking and canoeing with her family. She became intrigued by fly fishing at a young age after watching the film “A River Runs Through It.” Eventually, she started dedicating weekends to learning the art of casting on the Green River below the Flaming Gorge dam.
“There’s nothing like watching a beautiful cast unroll as the fly lands on the surface of the water then leads to a surface eat by a beautiful fish,” she says. “I love the places fly fishing takes me. I cherish and love the people who I’ve met along this journey.”
In addition to competing in national and international competitions, Wilson runs her own casting instruction business, At First Cast.
“If I can help one student learn or fix one element of their cast and they walk away knowing they have the steps they need to continue to be successful, it’s very rewarding for me and I believe rewarding for them as well. It hooks us both,” she said.
She also volunteers for Casting for Recovery, an organization offering free fly fishing retreats for breast cancer survivors and helping them move forward with their lives.
“Not long after I started getting involved, my mom passed away. I learned how important it is that people have emotional, physical and social support through severe chronic illnesses,” Wilson said. “Although I’ve given a lot to CFR, it’s given me so much, too.”
She said fly fishing provides an opportunity to connect to others and to nature. For the breast cancer survivors of CFR, fly fishing helps build mental and physical strength all while providing opportunity to overcome new challenges with confidence.
“Fly fishing helps us to slow down and find our rhythm; it helps to identify and learn about how we address changing conditions,” she said.
When she isn’t out on the river, Wilson works for AFMC Financial Management as the branch director over Decision Support and Maintenance Analysis. Her goal with this new position is to enhance the communication and collaboration across the command for working capital fund. Before this job, she spent 16 years at the Ogden ALC working for various maintenance groups.
She will put finances on hold Aug. 10-14, when she will be fly casting the beautiful rivers of Rjuken, Norway. To follow her journey, visit her Instagram at @atfirstcast.
(Additional reporting by Shauna Farnell)