Samuelson Remembered Former Governor ‘Led The State With The Courage Of His Convictions,’ Kempthorne Says

For the second time in a little more than a month, Sandpoint citizens and Idaho’s living governors gathered to bid farewell to a statesman.

Former Gov. Don Samuelson joined Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and former Govs. Phil Batt, Cecil Andrus and John Evans last month to pay respects to state Rep. Jim Stoicheff.

On Wednesday, Kempthorne, Batt and Evans returned to Sandpoint, this time to honor Samuelson.

Idaho State Police troopers, with shiny black shoes and a military posture, presented the U.S. and Idaho flags before and after the funeral service for the staunchly patriotic Samuelson, while a pianist played the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

“I know how much Governor Samuelson loved those two flags,” Kempthorne told the crowd that nearly filled the spacious First Lutheran Church.

Following the service, the troopers fired off a 21-gun salute to the former governor, who died last Thursday of heart failure at the age of 86.

Samuelson was remembered by friends and family as a large, loving, honest man who was inseparable from the “love of his life” and wife of 64 years, Ruby.

“Their politics were not always the same, but Don managed to convince her over to what he considered the right side,” said Pastor Tori Hicks, who also officiated at Stoicheff’s funeral. “They were able to resolve so many differences because they were always honest with each other.”

Samuelson served as a state senator from 1960 to 1966. He defeated Cecil Andrus in the 1966 governor’s race. Andrus defeated Samuelson in the next election.

Kempthorne compared the former governor to a ponderosa pine; “tall, firm, reaching to the sky.”

As for his leadership, “he made sure that state government did not simply expand, but was streamlined and operated efficiently,” Kempthorne said. “Don led the state with the courage of his convictions.”

One of those convictions was that state government should be run like a business. Friends and family said Samuelson was a thrifty man and treated taxpayer dollars like his own.

“When he moved into the governor’s office, there wasn’t anything in that office,” said Logan Lanham, a friend and pallbearer. “A staff member asked, `Can we buy some encyclopedias?’ He said, `Wait until they come out in paperback.”’

Family members left trinkets and mementos in Samuelson’s casket, so numerous that it raised at least one eyebrow on the funeral director, said Samuelson’s daughter, Donna Collins.

Among the items Samuelson took with him to the grave were several fishing flies, a clay pigeon, a Boy Scout badge and a compass.

Samuelson moved his family from Iowa to Sandpoint after being discharged from the Farragut Naval Training Station, where he was a firearms instructor. He opened the Pend Oreille Sports Shop in downtown Sandpoint.

He and Ruby built their home on North Boyer from the ground up, Hicks said.

“Whatever he did, he threw himself into with incredible energy,” Hicks said. “Don had a habit of facing everything head-on. It didn’t matter what anyone else thought or said, as long as you were true to what you believed.”

His only bad habit, Hicks said, was that he didn’t go to church enough. But he once told Hicks he would come more often if she would move the church service to 8:30 a.m.

“That way he could go to church and still get out and shoot those clay pigeons,” she said.

In his autobiography, “His Hand on My Shoulder,” Samuelson wrote that he often felt as if God’s presence were near, directing him through life.

“We can be assured that God’s hand is still guiding Don into his new life,” Hicks said.

Samuelson’s son, Steve, had this piece of advice for friends, family and well-wishers who attended the service; “If you have parents who are still alive, love them and love them hard.”