CHEYENNE - Wyoming Department of Employment Director Cynthia Pomeroy resigned her post effective July 31 for family reasons, Gov. Dave Freudenthal announced Wednesday.

In her letter or resignation to the governor, Pomeroy said her daughter is a physician in the Navy, and her daughter's husband is also a physician in the Navy who has been deployed to Iraq for several months.

The daughter has two children 19 months apart and has been unable to get stable child care. Moreover, she has been told she will be deployed, probably to Iraq, in October or November, or January at the latest.

In her letter, Pomeroy said she will go to California Aug. 1 to help her daughter with child care.

Freudenthal said he respects Pomeroy's decision to put her family needs first and hopes she can return to state government in some capacity later.

"It's difficult for her," Freudenthal said at a news conference Wednesday. "She's taking care of her family. I hate to see her go, but I'm proud of her."

Freudenthal appointed Pomeroy to the cabinet-level post in March 2003. Her salary was nearly $102,000 a year.

A businesswoman, she had been head of First American Title Co. of Laramie County.

Gary Child, administrator for the Department of Employment's workers' safety and compensation division, will serve as interim director until a permanent replacement is named.

The Department of Employment administers the unemployment and workers' compensation programs and, through its field offices, helps match employees to employers.

Freudenthal said he would prefer that the state's work force services agency were under the Department of Employment, but the Legislature split it out into a separate department before he took office.

As director, Pomeroy has served on the State Employee Compensation Commission, the Information Technology Policy Council, the Correctional Industries Advisory Board and the Wyoming Workforce Development Council.

Pomeroy also worked on the development of the Governor's Safety Awards Conference. The conference recognizes employers in the state for safe practices in industrial manufacturing, mining and energy production.