Posted on 10/05/2005 12:36:12 PM PDT by Theodore R.
Former Gov. Stan Hathaway dies at 81
By Ilene Olson rep3@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE - Former Wyoming Gov. Stan Hathaway died at his home Tuesday evening surrounded by family and friends.
He was 81.
Labeled by some as "Wyoming's favorite son," Hathaway served two terms as governor from January 1967 to January 1975. He is best known for spearheading efforts to establish mineral severance taxes in the state as well as creating the Permanent Wyoming Mineral Trust Fund in 1974.
"Stan Hathaway was an extraordinary person," said his longtime friend and law firm partner Brent Kunz. "History will show that he will be one of the greatest governors Wyoming has ever had. The decisions Stan made in his office made it possible for Wyoming to enjoy the revenues and the surplus that currently exist."
Added friend and former chief of staff Jack Speight, "He had tremendous insight and leadership in fostering and implementing the first state severance tax at a time when literally state government was nearly insolvent."
But, for the most part, it wasn't the governor who friends remembered fondly after his passing Tuesday evening. It was the man.
Hathaway is survived by two daughters and funeral arrangements are pending.
Hathaway was born on July 19, 1924, to Robert and Lily Knapp. When his mother died two years later, he was adopted by Franklin E. and Velma Hathaway and moved to Huntley in Goshen County.
Hathaway graduated from Huntley High School in 1941 and enrolled at the University of Wyoming. He interrupted his college education in 1943 to serve in the Army Air Forces during World War II. He flew on 35 B-17 bomber combat missions in Europe, earning five air medals.
After the war, Hathaway continued his college education and earned both bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Nebraska, where he also met and married his wife, Roberta "Bobby" Hathaway. They were married for 57 years before her death in April 2004.
After college, the Hathaways moved to Torrington where he started a law practice.
In 1966, Hathaway entered the political arena and, at age 42, was among the youngest governors elected in the state when he defeated Democrat Ernest Wilkerson.
During his first term, the state approved its first environmental controls on its burgeoning minerals industry. He signed into law the state air quality act in 1967 and the state water quality act in 1968.
"He was ahead of his time on environmental matters," Speight said, recalling Hathaway's motto of "quality growth" for the state.
"We'll have development of mineral resources, but on our terms," Speight recounted Hathaway saying.
Hathaway won re-election over Democrat challenger John J. Rooney in 1970. Not since 1946 had a governor been elected to a second term in Wyoming.
In his second term, Hathaway's administration supported creation of the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund with severance taxes the state levied on extracted minerals.
The fund, which now totals nearly $2.5 billion, is a major source of funding for Wyoming's daily government operations with its interest earnings. In 1976, interest from the fund brought in about $700,000 for state coffers; in 2004, it raised $98 million in interest income.
"It wouldn't be in existence if it wasn't for Stan," Speight said last month.
Hathaway also approved creation of the state Department of Environmental Quality, which enforces state environmental regulations.
During his tenure as governor, Bobby served as his secretary.
"He and Bobby had a unique relationship, both in private life and public life," Speight said. "She was so vital to him. As governor, she was a real partner in helping run the state."
"Bobby Hathaway was such a major part of Stan Hathaway's life," agreed Kunz. "Everything Stan did, Bobby did with him."
In 1975, Hathaway was appointed as Secretary of the Interior for then President Gerald Ford. After one month in office, he returned to Wyoming in June of that year.
Speight recalled the harrowing experience the appointment proved to be for Hathaway.
"It was a combination of a bunch of things," Speight said. "We had an appointed president in Ford, and we had an appointed vice president in (Nelson) Rockefeller. The Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate. (Hathaway) was asked to run a department with over 100,000 employees, and it was an insurmountable kind of challenge, particularly after the hearing."
Hathaway's hearing was second in length at the time only to Rockefeller's, Speight said.
"A lot of unfortunate things occurred during that six- or eight-week process that took its toll on Stan, physically and emotionally.
"For somebody that could make decisions and carry out his policy in Wyoming, in Washington (he found) that nearly impossible to do."
Above and beyond that, Hathaway deeply missed Wyoming and its people, Speight said.
"That had as much to do with him wanting to return home as anything that went on in the confirmation process," he added. "He came back, his health improved, and he became the old Stan Hathaway."
Hathaway opened up a law firm when he moved back to Cheyenne and invited Speight to join him.
"We practiced for 25 years on a handshake with nothing in writing," Speight said. That was the kind of man he was, he added.
Speight and others who knew him well described him as a man of integrity who cared about all the residents of the state.
"He said privately and publicly on more than one occasion that he was governor of all the people, not the governor of a certain political party," he said.
Secretary of State Joe Meyer, who helped Hathaway campaign in Fremont County in the 1970s, later worked with him as a staff member of the Legislative Service Office.
"He had a real will of steel," Meyer said. "He was a good leader with a great deal of integrity. He could laugh when he wanted to laugh, and he could be tough when he needed to be tough. He was a real gentleman (and) a good role model. He's just a grand person."
Kunz said Hathaway's concern for the people didn't end when he left the governor's office.
"He loved doing things for people," he said. "You can't believe the elderly women, widows in particular, who he helped and never charged them a dime. He always had time for them among the major issues. He was thoughtful and considerate."
Both Speight and Kunz recalled Hathaway's love of the Wyoming outdoors.
"I picture him in a duck blind with a cigar in his mouth, a guy enjoying the out-of-doors and the beauty of Wyoming," Speight said. "He would actually yell when he would catch a fish. He had a smile on his face like it was the first fish he ever caught."
"I loved to see him fishing," said Kunz. "He's probably the best fisherman I've ever known. Every time he'd catch one, he'd give a whoop and a holler.
"I loved to see him teach kids to fish," he added.
Kunz said Hathaway's intelligence and memory were exceptional.
"He would give the State of the State Address, and he'd stand up there before the joint sessions of the Legislature and outline the budget and issues, and never use a note," he said.
Kunz and Speight both said Hathaway had missed Bobby terribly since her death more than a year ago.
"They're together now," Kunz said. "He experienced the birth that we call death."
But that doesn't keep others from missing him here.
"(His death is) a tremendous personal loss for a lot of individuals that were his friends and loves ones," Speight said. "He will be missed."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Awesome story - one of these days, I'm hoping to live up there.
I remember when he was our governor. He is one of the reasons Wyoming schools are funded so well. Good man. Sorry to hear he passed away.
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