San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Republican known as champion for Alaska
JUNEAU, Alaska — Alaska Rep. Don Young, who was the longestserving Republican in the history of the U.S. House, has died. He was 88.
His office announced Young’s death in a statement Friday night.
“It’s with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we announce Congressman Don Young (R-AK), the Dean of the House and revered champion for Alaska, passed away today while traveling home to Alaska to be with the state and people that he loved. His beloved wife Anne was by his side,” said the statement from Young’s congressional office.
A cause of death was not provided. Young’s office said details about plans for a celebration of Young’s life were expected in the coming days.
Young, who was first elected to the U.S. House in 1973, was known for his brusque style. In his later years, his off-color comments and gaffes sometimes overshadowed his work. During his 2014 re-election bid, he described himself as less-thanperfect but said he wouldn’t stop fighting for Alaska. Alaska has just one House member.
Born on June 9, 1933, in Meridian, Calif., Young grew up on a family farm. He earned a bachelor’s degree in teaching at Chico State College, now known as California State University, Chico, in 1958. He also served in the U.S. Army, according to his biography.
Young came to Alaska in 1959, the same year it became a state, and credited Jack London’s “Call of the Wild” for inspiring him.
“I can’t stand heat, and I was working on a ranch and I used to dream of some place cold, and no snakes and no poison oak,” Young said in 2016.
In Alaska, he met his first wife, Lu, who convinced him to enter politics.
In 2015, nearly six years after Lu Young’s death, and on his 82nd birthday, Young married Anne Garland Walton in a private ceremony in the U.S. Capitol chapel.
President Joe Biden said Saturday that few legislators left a greater mark on their state.
“Don’s legacy lives on in the infrastructure projects he delighted in steering across Alaska. In the opportunities he advanced for his constituents. In the enhanced protections for Native tribes he championed. His legacy will continue in the America he loved,” Biden said in a statement.