Born in Pennington Gap near the center of Lee County, Virginia, on April 21, 1926, to hardware store proprietor John Sevier Wampler and his schoolteacher wife, the former Lilian May Wolfe, the child nicknamed Bill Wampler attended the public schools in Bristol, Virginia.
Born in Pennington Gap, Lee County, Virginia, on April 21, 1926, to John Sevier Wampler, a hardware store owner, and his wife Lilian May Wolfe, who was nicknamed Bill Wampler, the child studied at public schools in Bristol, Virginia.