H. A. Boucher

Henry Aristide "Red" Boucher Jr. (January 27, 1921 – June 19, 2009) was the lieutenant governor of Alaska from 1970 to 1974. He had also served as mayor of Fairbanks, Alaska, from 1966 to 1970, and in the Alaska House of Representatives. Boucher served on the Fairbanks City Council and the Anchorage Assembly.

Henry Aristide Boucher
2nd Lieutenant Governor of Alaska
In office December 7, 1970 – December 2, 1974
Governor	William A. Egan
Preceded by	Robert W. Ward
Succeeded by	Lowell Thomas Jr.
Personal details
Born	January 27, 1921 Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S.
Died	June 19, 2009 (aged 88) Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Vicky (Elkins)
Education	Woodrow Wilson, High Technical/Vocational School 1934-1938
Occupation	Merchant, consultant Alaska Information Technologies, Inc
Signature
Nickname(s)	"Red"

He enlisted in the Navy becoming a signalman and a meteorologist, in the Pacific theatre of World War II. In the Navy for 20 years, he achieved the rank of chief petty officer.

In the 1960s, he founded the Fairbanks Goldpanners baseball team, now a part of the Alaska Baseball League. In 2009, Boucher was inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. He was known as a "telecommunication whiz," because of his early use of Apple computers and advocacy for Internet expansion statewide.

Biography

Born in Nashua, New Hampshire, to Henry Aristide Boucher Sr. and Helen Isabel Cameron, Boucher's father died shortly after his birth from lingering effects of exposure to mustard gas in World War I at the Battle of Verdun in 1916. He earned the nickname "Red" after he met President Franklin D. Roosevelt who told him, "They ought to call you Red." in reference to his red hair. After his mother developed multiple sclerosis, he and his brother were placed in St. Vincent's Orphanage in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Boucher enlisted in the Navy at age 17, served aboard the USS Enterprise in the Pacific during World War II as an expert signalman and a meteorologist and achieved the rank of chief petty officer. He served during the Battle of Midway and numerous other battles for a total of twenty years in the Navy, including a stint on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga as chief petty officer for communications and meteorology.

Boucher and his family came to Alaska, settling in Fairbanks in 1958 after John F. Kennedy, whom he campaigned for, told him there was great potential in the far north territory. He founded the Fairbanks Goldpanners baseball team in the 1960s, setting up the roots of the Alaska Baseball League. He served on the Fairbanks City Council before becoming mayor in 1966. He was elected lieutenant governor of Alaska under the second administration of Governor William Allen Egan, serving from 1970 to 1974. Afterwards, served in the Alaska House of Representatives and later served on the Anchorage Assembly.

He also had an interest in telecommunications, sparked by the first Apple computers, and became known as a telecommunications whiz whose successes included a crusade to boost Internet access in remote Alaska villages. Boucher suffered a stroke in 2005 and died aged 88 on June 19, 2009, at his home in Anchorage.[1]

References

1. "Former Lt. Gov. H.A. "Red" Boucher dies at 88". Associated Press. June 20, 2009. Archived from the original on February 19, 2012. Retrieved September 17, 2014. H.A. "Red" Boucher, Alaska's first elected lieutenant governor, has died. He was 88.

External links

• Media related to H. A. Boucher at Wikimedia Commons
• Red Boucher Alaska Politics Blog, by David Hulen
• Goldpanners web page Photo of Boucher, taken 1962, as he is being interviewed by Bill Walley of KFAR.
• Red A. Boucher at 100 Years of Alaska's Legislature