Sawdust – Part 2
“It all started one night I went to post a letter at the post office. I got talking to a guy, and I said, ‘what do you do?’ He said ‘I’m the Commander of the Navy, down in Antarctica and the top of Alaska.’ He said he didn’t have anywhere to stay. I said, ‘come and stay with me!’ So he stayed with me for a week and he was very interested in old tractors, we had a 1929 Caterpillar which we’re working on.
Then I came back, and got a phone call from this guy.
He said ‘the C17’s is going down to the ice in a fortnight’s time. You can go down with him if you want to’. Yea right! ‘You’ll have a pretty strict medical test.’ So I went down there with these guys and I stayed for three weeks at McMurdo. I worked on the bulldozers, on the airstrip pushing out the soft spots on the runway and pushing the fresh snow and compacting it all down.
Then I got involved in local politics, I was on the community board for three years and then I went for the Community Board and the Council. I got on both, then I became Chairman of the Town Council.
You had to be hands on, it was extremely rewarding. I joined the Council as the youngest member that had ever been on the council, I was about 34, most of the guys were in their 60’s and 70’s. I thought, how am I gonna get along with these guys trying to change things? I went from the youngest to the oldest around the table; 27 years; I probably stayed one term too long. I thought I’d better get out of here while I’m on top, you cannot satisfy everybody.”