1. Ermalee Hickel was an American public figure and philanthropist who served as the second and seventh First Lady of Alaska from 1966 to 1969 and again from 1990 to 1994.
23 Facts About Ermalee Hickel
1. 2.
Ermalee Hickel was the wife of the former Governor of Alaska Wally Hickel and one of the last members of Alaska's generation of pioneer political families.
3.
Ermalee Hickel's family was affiliated with the now defunct National Bank of Alaska.
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Ermalee Hickel later found work at the Port of Anchorage's seafood cannery before becoming a secretary at Fort Richardson, which is part of Elmendorf Air Force Base, during the early 1940s.
5.
Ermalee Hickel utilized the profits from the sale of the home to purchase, flip, and sell three more homes in Anchorage's Spenard neighborhood.
6.
Ermalee Hickel became actively involved in Alaskan politics once her husband entered the political arena in the 1950s.
7.
Political observers have credited Ermalee Hickel with helping to launch her husband's political career and the couple viewed their business and political ventures as a partnership.
8.
Wally Hickel had dyslexia, so Ermalee recorded his dictations on her typewriter and helped him with his speeches.
9.
Ermalee Hickel did the hotel's interior design and remained active in staffing decisions through the 1980s.
10.
Ermalee Hickel, who was raising six sons at the time, stuck largely to ceremonial roles during her first tenure as Alaska's first lady from 1966 to 1969.
11.
Ermalee Hickel hosted dignitaries, including aviator Charles Lindbergh, whose pants she ironed shortly before his address to the Alaska Legislature.
12.
Ermalee Hickel was confirmed as United States Secretary of the Interior.
13.
Ermalee Hickel later hosted Nixon during his trip to Alaska in 1971, despite the firing.
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Notably, Ermalee Hickel persuaded the governor to support the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend after traveling and hearing, first hand, how many Alaskans relied on the program.
15.
Governor Ermalee Hickel initially opposed the dividend before his wife's intervention.
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Ermalee Hickel worked to raise the public's awareness of alcoholism and fetal alcoholism.
17.
Ermalee Hickel created the Hickel House at Providence Alaska Medical Center, which provides accommodations for outpatients and their families.
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Additionally, Ermalee Hickel was a member of the boards of directors or patron of numerous civic, cultural, and political organizations, including the Pioneers of Alaska, the Alaska SeaLife Center, the President's Forum at Alaska Pacific University, the Anchorage Symphony League, the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher, the Alaska Republican Women's Club, the Women's Resource Center, the Salvation Army, and the Alaska Botanical Garden.
19.
Bella Hammond's and Ermalee Hickel's newly resurrected Backbone Alaska sought to counter the influence of the oil industry in Alaskan politics.
20.
Ermalee Hickel died at home in Anchorage on September 14,2017, at the age of 92.
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Ermalee Hickel was survived by her six sons and their wives, as well as sixteen grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
22.
Ermalee Hickel was buried beside her husband in Anchorage Memorial Park.
23.
Ermalee Hickel thought they were going to screw everything up.