Son remembers Smylie’s blend of toughness, humility

BOISE – Former Gov. Robert Smylie was remembered at his funeral Wednesday for his fatherly devotion and for his political foresight to modernize state government during his three terms as governor.

Against a backdrop of red and white funeral sprays and the flag-draped coffin, Smylie’s son, state Rep. Steve Smylie, recalled how his father would pile the family – his mother, Lucille, and brother, Bill – into a station wagon and drive to their retreat in North Idaho.

The family built “Mountain House” from the foundation up beginning in 1961, Smylie said. While they were working on the cabin, they also did plenty of fishing, skiing and sunset watching.

“And he always managed to build in some quality time for all of us,” Steve Smylie told about 300 guests who attended the state funeral at the Cathedral of the Rockies.

Steve Smylie also reflected on how his father’s broad authority at the Capitol compared to his personal humility at home.

“He commanded the state with an iron hand, but he would pace the floor to muster the courage to ask Mom for a favor,” he said.

Smylie’s family placed the former governor’s old manual Royal typewriter, which he used to type his own memos and speeches, in a church reception room.

“He attacked that old portable typewriter with power and determination. And Bill and I soon learned not to bother Dad while he was typing,” Steve Smylie said.

Former Govs. Phil Batt and John Evans and their wives sat in the front row with Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and first lady Patricia Kempthorne.

At the end of the hourlong ceremony, an honor guard slowly and deliberately folded the flag.

An officer delivered it to Smylie’s two granddaughters as a Guardsman played taps in the balcony.

The close of Wednesday’s ceremony marked the end of four days of official state mourning.

Smylie was Idaho’s 24th governor, serving from 1955 to 1967.

He was born Oct. 31, 1914, in Marcus, Iowa, and saw Idaho for the first time as a student at the College of Idaho in Caldwell.

He graduated in 1938 and pursued a law degree at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

He spent World War II in the Coast Guard and then married before returning to Idaho to become a deputy state attorney general.

In 1947, he was appointed attorney general by Gov. C.A. Robins to replace Robert Ailshie, who had died eight days earlier.

Smylie was elected to a full four-year term in 1950 and then mounted his first successful campaign for governor four years later.

Besides enactment of the sales tax in the final years of his three terms, Smylie’s administration saw an increase in the minimum wage, institution of the five-day work week for state employees and an extensive highway construction program and the establishment of the state parks system.