Plain-Speaking Former Governor Dies At Age 86 Sandpoint Conservative Defeated Andrus, Steered State From 1967-71

Don W. Samuelson, a former Idaho governor and the last opponent to defeat four-term Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus at the polls, died of a heart attack Thursday at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle.

He was 86.

Funeral services are pending in Sandpoint, and his children plan to organize a memorial service later in Boise.

Friends remembered Samuelson Thursday as an honest, loyal man who had a passion for Idaho and the outdoors.

“Idaho has lost a true statesman, an honest, plain-speaking man whose solid conservative ideals shaped his personal and public life,” Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said. “To be in his company, you always felt his warm, genuine, open personality, and I’ll miss his big, firm handshake.”

Samuelson loved Idaho so much that he refused to drive through Washington on his way to Boise.

“I used to try to get him to go the Pendleton (Ore.) route through the Tri-Cities,” recalled Paul Parks, a close friend of Samuelson’s in Sandpoint. “He wouldn’t go that way. He’d go the goat trail route.”

Gov. Robert Smylie in the GOP gubernatorial primary, receiving 61 percent of the vote. That was a year after Smylie had proposed and signed into law Idaho’s first sales tax - which Samuelson had opposed in the Senate.

Samuelson then defeated Andrus, also a state senator, in the November 1966 general election for governor. He outpolled Andrus by only 10,800 votes out of 252,000 cast even though Andrus was a late replacement for Charles Herndon of Salmon, who had been the handpicked candidate of Democratic boss Tom Boise.

Herndon died in a plane crash less than two months before the general election.

Samuelson lost his re-election bid to Andrus four years later by 10,900 votes out of 245,000 cast. That began 24 years of Democratic control of the governor’s office by Andrus and John Evans.

Despite being the last Idaho governor until Republican Phil Batt in 1995 to work with a legislative majority of his own party, Samuelson set a record in 1967 when he vetoed 39 bills.

Idaho Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa has held his office since Samuelson appointed him in May 1967 and was speaker of the Idaho House during Samuelson’s first legislative session as governor. He said Samuelson, a big man who favored close-cropped, often flattop haircuts, never kowtowed to political bosses or tried to curry favor with those who had helped him rise to power.

“He was not politically astute. He probably caused his own defeat in 1970,” Cenarrusa said. “His legacy is that he was true. Don Samuelson was an honest person, and he was the type whose word was his bond.”

State Sen. Shawn Keough of Sandpoint treasures the advice Samuelson gave her when she decided to run for office. She first met Samuelson during work on natural resource issues.

“He was vocal in the community about gate closures on national forest lands,” Keough said. “When I ran for office, Don was very gracious and gave me sage advice. He said to be sure to get to know the people and always be looking out for the hard-working people and their tax dollars.”

Douglas Bean of Boise was Samuelson’s administrative assistant as governor. He was hired to help with publicity and write speeches but quickly became committed to Samuelson as a hard-working leader and a staunch fiscal conservative.

“He was a rough, rugged individual,” Bean said. “He couldn’t speak in public - he never learned to accomplish that. But I was attracted to him because he was a really sincere man.”

Born in Woodhull, Ill., on July 27, 1913, Samuelson attended Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., before entering the Navy. He joined the Navy in 1944 and served as a gunner’s mate at Farragut Naval Training Station.

After his discharge in 1946, Samuelson lived in Iowa for a short time before returning to Sandpoint to start a sporting goods store, the Pend Oreille Sport Shop, where he did gunsmithing and fishing tackle repairs for 14 years. He then sold his business and started the Don Samuelson Equipment Co., selling and leasing mining and logging equipment.

He was an avid hunter and fisherman and traveled to Africa for a safari hunt with his wife.

Parks recalled Samuelson’s sharp eye as a trapshooter.

When he wasn’t enjoying the outdoors, Samuelson often could be found making jewelry, Parks said.

“He had hands like a ham, but he could do the most intricate work with women’s jewelry,” Parks said.

Samuelson was elected to the state Senate from Bonner County in 1960 and was re-elected in 1962 and 1964, serving on the powerful Finance Committee and as chairman of the Public Resources and Public Recreation Committee for three years.

After losing his 1970 re-election bid for governor, Samuelson worked in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Northwest regional office in Seattle until retiring in 1977 and returning to Sandpoint.

He remained active in the Republican Party as a precinct committeeman up until his death.

“In his later years, he always worked with us,” said Rep. John Campbell, R-Sandpoint. “One of the things he was working on this year was trying to get property tax relief for lakeshore owners.”

Samuelson’s memoir, “His Hand on my Shoulder: A Life Story of Hunting, Fishing, Love and Politics,” was published in 1993.

“I am grateful and proud that I was able to carry on the tradition of honesty and fairness throughout my political career,” he wrote. “I had the distinct feeling that the good Lord was with me and guiding me throughout my campaign for governor and the four years that I served in that position.”

He is survived by his wife, Ruby; a son, Steve; a daughter, Donna Collins; four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Staff writer Susan Drumheller contributed to this report.