Gov. Hunt’s pyramid took shape in his time overseas

Clay Thompson is on vacation. Here’s a column from Sept. 22, 2012:

Today’s question: I grew up going to the Phoenix Zoo, and Gov. Hunt’s tomb has always been something I look for. No one has ever explained why he chose a pyramid. Do you know? George Wylie Paul Hunt was the first governor to preside over Arizona as an honest-to-goodness state. He served seven two-year terms.

Hunt was born in Missouri in 1859. After a few years of schooling, he headed west and after kicking around various prospecting ventures, he wandered into Globe, pretty much dead broke.

He worked his way up to be president of the Old Dominion Commercial Co. store in Globe in 1900. He became a member of the Territorial Legislature and president of the Constitutional Convention that created Arizona’s progressive constitution that led to statehood.

He opposed the death penalty and supported organized labor and women’s suffrage.

In 1918 he was thought to be considering a run for U.S. Senate. This alarmed potential opponents, who persuaded President Woodrow Wilson in 1920 to post Hunt as ambassador to Siam (now Thailand).

As far as I can tell, this began Hunt’s fascination with the Middle East. During a tour of Egypt he was very much taken by the pyramids.

He came back to Arizona and was re-elected governor four times.

Meanwhile, he asked Congress for permission to build his pyramid tomb in what was then Papago Saguaro National Monument and is now Papago Park.