John Dennis Spellman was an American politician who served as the 18th governor of Washington from 1981 to 1985 and as the first King County Executive from 1969 to 1981.
22 Facts About John Spellman
2.
John Spellman's maternal grandmother was one of the first white children born in Oregon Territory and settled in the town of Brownsville.
3.
John Spellman's father, Bart, was a standout guard for the University of Oregon in its 1917 Rose Bowl victory over the heavily favored University of Pennsylvania and later was an assistant coach at both Oregon and the University of Washington.
4.
John Spellman was raised in the Eastside suburbs of Hunts Point and Bellevue with his sister Mary; his older brother David Bartholomew, was killed during the Korean War.
5.
John Spellman completed his high school education at Seattle Preparatory School, graduating in 1944.
6.
John Spellman met his wife Lois Elizabeth Murphy, who was from Havre, Montana in a Spanish class while attending Seattle University; the two were married in 1954 and had six children together, Margo, Bart, David, Jeffrey, Teresa and Kat.
7.
John Spellman entered politics after joining a group of progressive Republicans who sought to reform the party.
8.
John Spellman became a member of the Municipal Civic Service Commission while practicing as an attorney in the early 1960s.
9.
John Spellman ran for mayor of Seattle in 1964, but did not advance past the primary.
10.
John Spellman campaigned for Dan Evans in his successful bid to become governor later that year.
11.
John Spellman was elected to the three-member King County Commission in 1967.
12.
John Spellman played the lead role in establishing the county's new governmental structure under the Charter.
13.
John Spellman consolidated previously independent departments and replaced the old patronage system with a merit system.
14.
John Spellman supervised the controversial process of siting and building the Kingdome, the domed stadium that provided the first home for the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners, and initiated early efforts to deal with uncontrolled growth.
15.
John Spellman was twice re-elected to the office in 1973 and 1977.
16.
John Spellman first ran for governor in 1976 and was the top Republican in the state's blanket primary, but lost the general election to Democrat Dixy Lee Ray.
17.
John Spellman again ran for governor in 1980, narrowly defeating representative Duane Berentson in the primary.
18.
John Spellman successfully blocked a proposed oil pipeline that would have crossed under the Puget Sound over potential endangerment of the waterway's ecology and refused to back down amidst public support of the project.
19.
In September 1983, upon the death of US Senator Henry M Jackson, Spellman appointed former Republican governor Daniel J Evans to fill the vacant US Senate seat.
20.
John Spellman was a partner at the Seattle-based law firm, Carney Badley John Spellman.
21.
John Spellman suffered a fall on December 27,2017, which resulted in a broken hip.
22.
John Spellman was admitted to Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle for treatment and died of pneumonia on the morning of January 16,2018, at the age of 91.