August 2, 2005

• One of my heroes is gone.

  I seldom weep at death.  Maybe part of that is because I wept
  myself dry over my father’s death when I was an ignorant and
  ill-informed little girl.  Another large part of it is that in my
  personal experience of death and reincarnation, death has never been
  final.  I have no reason to pity the dead, and feel that if their
  survivors are overcome with grief, that’s their concern and their
  self-chosen misfortune.

  Even so, today as I was listening to Talk of Alaska on public radio,
  when Steve Heimel interrupted the discussion of marijuana’s legal
  status in our state to announce the death of former governor Jay Hammond,
  I wept.  I had very little personal contact with Jay.  He was
  elected governor during the time I worked for the state, and I helped
  in a minor way with his campaign.

  Jay came to office soon after the legislature had managed to spend, in
  only about two years, the megabucks the state had reaped from the
  Prudhoe Bay oil lease sales.  He thought something should be done
  to ensure that the oil taxes coming into the state coffers wouldn’t be
  spent as profligately, and that they would benefit the people of the
  state.  He created the Alaska Permanent Fund, the dividends from
  which are still distributed to all qualified Alaskans, adults and
  minors, each October.

  He made an impression on me with his outspoken and plain spoken common
  sense and his casual attitude toward the superficial matters of dress
  and appearance.  He is known as the Bush Rat Governor.  We
  usually saw him in jeans and a plaid shirt, and always bearded. 
  His life’s real work was as a bush pilot, and after serving in Juneau
  he lived out his life in a remote part of Southern Alaska.  We
  only heard from him on those infrequent occasions when he felt that
  some stupid political matter warranted his wise comments.

  He was incredibly influential when he did choose to speak up, although
  often money talked louder and the electorate sometimes ignored Jay’s
  wisdom, to our public detriment.  Alaska is a much worse place,
  the planet is bereft, with Jay Hammond gone.
  

  • 4:09 pm
  • 16 Comments