Today (May 1st) is the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Statehood in Alaska. It is fantastic that Seward has put this event together and is a timely reminder of the historical significance of Seward to the State of Alaska.
As a small contribution to that event, we have been helping the committee with organization of VIP tours and even with the logistics of shuttling VIPs and invited guests around Seward. And so yesterday I was more than happy to change my hat and drive former two times Governor of Alaska, Walter Hickel and his lovely wife Ermalee down to Seward.
As many times as I drive the Seward Highway I will never forget the stories that the Governor told on that journey and the observations about how much has changed on that journey over the past 60 years. He told me that he arrived in Seward in October 1940 from Kansas, via California and after borrowing $10 for food and a train fare (which he gave back with a $10 tip the next year!) he made his way up to Anchorage where he began his amazing career in construction and politics. An interesting sideline was that if he could have secured a passport he would have gone to Australia instead of Alaska, but Australia's loss is surely Alaska's gain!
During his early career, he built many links with Seward - his company built many of the houses on the city fringe. That affinity strengthened when, as Governor in the mid 1960s, he established the Seward Skill Center (now AVTECH).
But perhaps his greatest contribution to Seward was his unflinching support for the Alaska Sealife Center. In his second term as Governor of Alaska in the early 1990s he fought tooth and nail against critics in the Department of Interior to ensure that the SeaLife Center funding could be secured. He believed that the Center would ultimately play a key role in recovery and enhancement of affected systems and communities after the Exxon Valdez oil spill and that marine research was a key need to enable both processes to happen. Fortunately for Alaska, his views prevailed!
It was one of my most treasured moments since becoming CEO of the Center to see his clear delight in learning just how productive our research programs have been over the past decade. Even though he is a frequent visitor to the Center, he treats every visit as a unique learning experience and continually wants to know more about how our work can contribute to management of the Arctic and the ocean commons generally; subjects that he has an unparalleled passion for and on which he continues to campaign actively.
As a small token of appreciaton for the extraordinary support for our work and in keeping with his quest for knowledge I will make sure we keep Governor Hickel informed of our work and encourage all of us to keep striving to fulfil his vision for the Center.
As he constantly reminds us - "ideas are far more powerful than money".
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