Ermalee Hickel

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Ermalee Hickel
First Lady of Alaska
In role
December 3, 1990 – December 5, 1994
GovernorWally Hickel
Preceded byMichael Margaret Stewart
Succeeded bySusan Knowles
In role
December 5, 1966 – January 29, 1969
GovernorWally Hickel
Preceded byNeva Egan
Succeeded byDiana Miller
Personal details
Born
Ermalee Strutz

(1925-09-11)September 11, 1925
Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1945; died 2010)​
Children6

Ermalee Hickel (September 11, 1925 – September 14, 2017) was an American public figure and

Governor of Alaska Wally Hickel and one of the last members of Alaska's generation of pioneer political families.[1]

Biography

Early life

Hickel, the youngest of six children, was born Ermalee Strutz in Anchorage, Alaska, on September 11, 1925, to Aline and Louis Strutz.[1][4] Her family, who had arrived as pioneers in Anchorage in 1917, settled in a small cottage-style house located at Ninth Avenue and P Street near the Cook Inlet.[5][3] The home still stands, as of 2017.[3] The family raised cows on a piece of nearby land now known as the Delaney Park Strip.[3] Hickel's father, a United States Army sergeant, had been stationed in Alaska.[1] Her family was also affiliated with the now defunct National Bank of Alaska.[1]

Strutz was the editor of her

cannery before becoming a secretary at Fort Richardson, which is now part of Elmendorf Air Force Base, during the early 1940s.[1][5]

Ermalee Strutz met her future husband,

Catholic wedding ceremony held at Holy Family Church, located on the site of the present-day Holy Family Old Cathedral.[1] In addition to Hickel's son, Ted, from his first marriage, the couple had five more sons.[1] They eventually settled in Anchorage's Turnagain neighborhood near Fish Creek.[3]

The Hickels purchased and renovated a small house soon after their wedding.[3] They later sold the home, which launched Wally Hickel's entry into the real estate business. He utilized the profits from the sale of the home to purchase, flip, and sell three more homes in Anchorage's Spenard neighborhood.[3]

Public career

Ermalee Hickel became actively involved in Alaskan politics once her husband entered the political arena in the 1950s.[4] Political observers have credited Ermalee Hickel with helping to launch her husband's political career and the couple viewed their business and political ventures as a partnership.[3] Wally Hickel had dyslexia, so Ermalee recorded his dictations on her typewriter and helped him with his speeches.[3] Throughout their public service careers, Ermalee Hickel's calm demeanor was seen as a counterbalance to Wally Hickel's more impulsive personality.[3] The former governor later described his wife as "beautiful as a butterfly, but tough as a boot."

In 1964, Ermalee and Wally Hickel began construction on their Hotel Captain Cook. She did the hotel's interior design and remained active in staffing decisions through the 1980s.[3] During the mid-1960s, Ermalee Hickel also co-founded a charity that later became Catholic Social Services.[3]

First Lady of Alaska

Wally Hickel, a Republican, was

Bill Egan. The election of her husband made Hickel the second First Lady in the state's short history.[3] Hickel, who was raising six sons at the time, stuck largely to ceremonial roles during her first tenure as Alaska's first lady from 1966 to 1969.[3] She hosted dignitaries, including aviator Charles Lindbergh, whose pants she ironed shortly before his address to the Alaska Legislature.[3] The Hickels left office in 1969 when Gov. Hickel was confirmed as United States Secretary of the Interior.[3] Nixon fired Hickel less than a year later after the Secretary criticized his Vietnam War policy.[3] Ermalee Hickel later hosted Nixon during his trip to Alaska in 1971, despite the firing.[5]

By contrast, Ermalee Hickel took a much more active role during her second tenure as First Lady from 1990 to 1994 by focusing on social issues.

preventative healthcare, substance abuse and suicide prevention, homelessness, addiction recovery and rehabilitation, as well as the issues affecting young people and the elderly in the state.[4][3]

Hickel traveled extensively throughout Alaska as first lady.

Juneau, the state capitol.[3] She would then reports problems or other issues to the Governor or his staff in the governor's office.[3]

Notably, Hickel persuaded the governor to support the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend after traveling and hearing, first hand, how many Alaskans relied on the program.[3] Governor Hickel had initially opposed the dividend before his wife's intervention.[3]

First Lady Hickel lobbied to successfully enact new benefits for families to care for disabled children or adults living at home.[3] She also worked to raise the public's awareness of alcoholism and fetal alcoholism.[3] A literacy advocate, Hickel always carried a copy of Dr. Seuss' "Are You My Mother?" when invited to read with elementary school students.[3]

Later life

A philanthropist, Hickel and her husband jointly established the Walter J. and Ermalee Hickel Alaska Foundation as a fund within the Alaska Community Foundation.

Salvation Army, and the Alaska Botanical Garden.[4]

Hickel and five other former Alaskan first ladies were the subjects of a 2005

Nancy Murkowski, at an official ceremony and luncheon to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Alaskan statehood.[7] In a 2012 interview, Ermalee Hickel discussed her involvement in Alaska politics for the documentary, Alaska, the World and Walter Hickel (2013).[5]

During the

multi-national corporations are attacking those Alaska legislators running for re-election who stood together in the past session to protect Alaska's interests."[8] Hammond and Hickel jointly endorsed several members of the Bipartisan Working Group who were running for re-election in 2012, including state Senators Hollis French, Joe Paskvan, Joe Thomas, and Bill Wielechowski.[8] The first ladies' support for the Bipartisan Working Group was backed by other prominent Alaskan political figures, including Vic Fischer.[9]

Hickel's husband of 65 years, former Governor Wally Hickel, died on May 7, 2010, at the age of 90.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Co-Cathedral in Anchorage on October 18, 2017.[4]

Hickel was buried beside her husband in Anchorage Memorial Park.[2] Like her husband, the former first lady was buried standing up facing Washington, D.C.[2] In 2010, Governor Wally Hickel had famously requested to also be buried standing up in the direction of the U.S. capital.[2] According to their son, Jack, the Hickels had requested the unusual burial arrangement, recalling "He [Governor Hickel] said if they don't do it right he's going to crawl out of his grave and straighten them out...He thought they were going to screw everything up. He wanted to keep his eye on them."[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Downing, Suzanne (2017-09-15). "Ermalee Hickel, 1925-2017". Must Read Alaska. Archived from the original on 2017-10-26. Retrieved 2017-11-10.
  2. ^
    Alaska Dispatch News. Archived
    from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-11-10.
  3. ^
    Alaska Dispatch News. Archived
    from the original on 2017-09-16. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
  4. ^
    Alaska Dispatch News. 2017-10-01. Archived
    from the original on 2017-11-11. Retrieved 2017-11-10.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Former first lady, Ermalee Hickel, dies at 92". KTVA. 2017-09-15. Archived from the original on 2017-11-11. Retrieved 2017-11-10.
  6. ^ Petty, Andrew (2005-06-22). "Alaska's first ladies gather for documentary". Juneau Empire. Archived from the original on 2015-12-03. Retrieved 2017-11-10.
  7. ^ Morrison, Eric (2008-08-04). "Palin family honors former first ladies: Women look back on fond memories of life in Governor's Mansion". Juneau Empire. Archived from the original on 2010-12-17. Retrieved 2017-11-10.
  8. ^
    Alaska Dispatch News. Archived
    from the original on 2017-11-11. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
  9. Alaska Dispatch News. Archived
    from the original on 2017-11-11. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
  10. The McClatchy Company (Anchorage Daily News
    ). Retrieved 2017-11-11.
  11. Governor of Alaska. 2017-09-15. Archived
    from the original on 2017-09-30. Retrieved 2017-11-10.


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