Huckleberries Gone Wi-Fi w/Alice Rankin

Above, Alice Rankin as the Orange County campaign coordinator for U.S. Sen./former actor George Murphy; below, Ron Rankin as a machine salesman for his father’s machinist company in northern California.

DFO: What would be one thing that people would find surprising about you and Ron?

AR: Maybe that he was a logger at one time. When we moved up here, he said, “I’ve always wanted to be a logger.” He was a management consultant (helping businesses organize themselves and run more efficiently). He lost his job two days after he decided to run for the Idaho Legislature. He worked another management job and then got involved in logging. The day after Fathers Day 1973, he was working at Fighting Creek, falling a tree when it hit another one that had been partially cut. It was what they call a “widow maker.” He was hit on top of his safety helmet by a big limb of the second tree and got a spinal column injury. He was in the hospital for three weeks. He couldn’t move his arms and legs. I had to feed him three times a day. The doctors thought he was going to be paralyzed. But he was determined to walk again. He did. But he had to take a wheelchair out of the hospital. (The injury caused Ron to gain the weight he was known for and left him partially paralyzed on one side. That’s why he limped when he walked.)

For the complete Huckleberries Gone Wireless interview with Alice Rankin, click here .