March 6, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 40 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
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REMEMBERING KATHLEEN ``MIKE'' DALTON; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 40
(Senate - March 06, 2019)
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[Pages S1703-S1704] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] REMEMBERING KATHLEEN ``MIKE'' DALTONMs. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, she was a mentor, communicator, historian, volunteer, role model, and a friend with an incredible memory of Alaska history, a journalist, public servant, a Republican, a woman who had strong opinions and was not afraid to express them, a pillar of the community, a legend. This weekend, the Pioneers of Alaska Fairbanks Igloo will remember Kathleen ``Mike'' Dalton who passed in January at the age of 93. I rise today to speak in memory of my friend, this woman named Mike, an oracle of Alaska history and at the same time a fixture of Alaska's political history. So how does a girl get the name Mike? Mike was born to an Irish father who anticipated that he would have two children. One named Patricia, the other named Mike. Problem is that Mike's father had little control of the gender of his children. Mike's sister, the first of the children, was named Patricia. The second, who turned out to be a girl as well, was named Kathleen, but that stubborn Irish father would have nothing of it. Kathleen was ``Mike'' from the very beginning. Mike grew up in Arizona. Her father worked on the Navajo Reservation as a carpenter and construction worker. She moved to Tucson to attend Catholic school at age 10 and graduated with a degree in English from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. She followed a friend and schoolmate to Alaska, and as they say, the rest is history. Mike acclimated well to the north and was quickly introduced to the sport of dog mushing. She met Jim Dalton, the son of a pioneer and Klondike gold rush legend and married him in 1950. Jim was an engineer who played a major role in development of the naval petroleum reserve on Alaska's North Slope. Jim and Mike lived in Barrow, now the community known as Utqiagvik, and had two children. They bought 30 acres in Fairbanks and built a loghouse. Jim continued to work on the North Slope. Mike stayed in Fairbanks to raise the children, but ever ingenious, she found ways to hitch a ride to see Jim. She made 12 trips above the Arctic Circle during the winter of 1968-1969. Mike chose to live a full life in Fairbanks. She was a reporter for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, writing the first draft of Alaska's post-Statehood history. She covered all of the big events: the 1964 earthquake, the 1967 Fairbanks flood, the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay, and the construction of a 500-mile haul road that made oil production possible. That road is today known as the Dalton Highway, in acknowledgment of Jim Dalton's pioneering work on the North Slope. Jim died in 1977. While Mike's writing endeared her to Alaskans, her greater contribution may be her decision to rescue all of the News-Miner's World War II era photo archives from a dumpster, after an editor new to Alaska, determined that they lacked historic value. Waiting until dark, she dove in, dusted the photos off, and preserved them. She was recruited to stuff envelopes and lick stamps for Republican candidates, the stepping stone to a half century's leadership in the Fairbanks Republican Women's Club. Her email list was envied by all. In 1964, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, a regional government for interior Alaska, was formed. Mike ran for a seat on the borough assembly, which is the borough's legislative body. She was the top vote getter. Turning to a career in government, Mike managed Senator Ted Stevens' interior Alaska field office from 1971-1978. She worked for another legend, who recently passed, Alaska State Senator Jack Coghill, and during the administration of Governor Jay Hammond, she relocated to Washington, DC, to manage Alaska's Washington office. Returning to Alaska, she devoted her life to community service. In 1991, she worked for the city of Unalaska and helped organize the 50th commemoration of the Japanese occupation of the Aleutians. She helped organize the first American delegation visit to the Russian Far East and the Kamchatka Peninsula, hoping to improve ties between Russia and Alaska as the USSR came apart. Active in the Pioneers of Alaska, Mike recorded oral histories of Alaska's pioneers for the University of Alaska archives. She repatriated 24 paintings by Alaska's most famous artist, Sydney Laurence, back to Alaska. She was active in the campaign to settle Alaska Native land claims and was one of the first non- Natives to be honored by the Fairbanks Native Association. Mike was about service to others, not glory to herself. She would drive 50 miles out of town to give a ride to a sourdough who needed it, deliver her prized oatmeal cookies to the seniors, chase after a dog gone astray. She went out to fix the culverts that collapsed under the weight of Alaska winter to prevent spring floods, and she raised money for the hospital. She was generous to newcomers who experienced difficulties in acclimating and a mentor to young women. Upon Mike's induction to the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2016, it was [[Page S1704]] remembered that Mike refused to attend an event honoring her 90th birthday because she was so adamantly opposed to self-aggrandizement. The Alaska Women's Hall of Fame recognized Mike as a ``seemingly tireless activist whose efforts have made waves since her arrival in Alaska from Arizona in 1949 . . . As for Fairbanks, her home base for more than half a century Mike played a major part in shaping its social, political and economic future, as well as the state, while preserving a valuable part of our history.'' I thank my colleagues for the opportunity to share a brief glimpse into the extraordinary life of Mike Dalton in the U.S. Senate today. ____________________
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