Over the years, a person in my line of work has heard hundreds of stories from politicians.  A great many of them are funny and memorable.

         Recently in Laramie, several such stories were told from the same podium and I would like to share them with you.

         At the salute to the state’s 125^th anniversary of statehood event, some people with political backgrounds shared several good stories.

         Milward Simpson is director of the state’s Arts, Parks and Cultural Resources Department.  He is also the namesake of his grandfather, Milward Simpson, who served as governor and U. S. Senator back in the 1960s and 1970s.

         Young Milward told the large statewide crowd that he wanted to share his grandpa’s favorite story.

         But before I re-tell this, it might be appropriate to mention that the elder Simpson served in the Senate with another Wyoming senator named Gale McGee, who was a Democrat and a former professor at the University of Wyoming.

         As an extra note of interest, McGee is the subject for another in a series of excellent Wyoming political biographies by Cheyenne author Rodger McDaniel.  Not sure when the book is coming out but I am sure it will be very good.

         Rodger told me that doing his research has been a fun blast to the past as he explores all the crazy politics of the 1960s and 1970s. Back then, McGee was a leading national Democratic U. S. Senator and an early supporter of the Vietnam War. McGee later had big regrets for that decision. But that is another story. 

         Back to Milward’s story.

         Milward comes from the ubiquitous Simpson political family. His dad is legendary UW professor and historian Pete Simpson and his uncle is retired U. S. Senator Al Simpson.

         He said the elder Milward’s favorite story was about one time when a group of grade schoolers were asked why Wyoming was called the Equality State?

         One little girl replied it was because “Wyoming had two female U. S. Senators, Mildred Simpson and Gayle McGee!”

         Later in the conference Gov. Matt Mead told a story about his grandfather, former Gov. and U. S. Senator Cliff Hansen.

         It seems that when Hansen was growing up in Jackson he had a horrible stutter.  As a young tyke, he was sent home from school with a note pinned to his chest saying he was “uneducable.”

         His frustrated parents shipped him by train to Indiana to a woman who had performed miracles with other stuttering children. She taught young Cliff to slow down his speech and wave his arms a certain way with every word he spoke.

         It worked and the rest is history.

         Mead then shared with the crowd some additional punch lines to that tale. He told the story about how Cliff, as a young cowboy, would be near the back of the herd of cows waving his arms and talking all the time. He drove his fellow cowboys crazy.  Seems he never quit talking.

         Mead told the story that Cliff’s fellow cowboys often said: “Now we can’t shut him up.  Maybe he’s practicing to be governor?” That reportedly brought a big laugh there in the dusty herd.

         But Cliff did have lofty ambitions. He went on to become a county commissioner, a governor and a U. S. Senator.

         A sad ending to Mead’s story is that when Hansen was first elected governor he wanted that long-ago speech teacher to come to his inauguration.  She was killed in a car wreck on her way from Indiana to Cheyenne for that event.

         First Lady Carol Mead accepted a nice award from the event for the preservation work she and her husband have done with the famous Tivoli Building in downtown Cheyenne.

         In its heyday, it was one of the city’s finest watering holes and it also included one of the most famous bordellos in those early years.

         She said they were pleased to restore the old building but doubted it would ever again be the site of some of its former glory.

         And at the beginning of the program, when Gov. Mead started his remarks he reminded everyone that back 125 years ago, the state government was “building a capitol.”

         “And here we go again – building a capitol,” referring to the $300 million renovation of the State Capitol complex.  He also complained about how his office was “moving into a former mortuary across the street.” 

         He asked that people refrain from making jokes about his new residence.