OREM -- Like his recent bid for mayor of Orem, Jerry Washburn maintains his life course has been largely devoid of drama and travail.
"There have not been any catastrophic points in our life that we would say, 'This is a low point or a struggle,' " the 56-year-old retired car dealer said of his family during an interview at his home last week.To be sure, there wasn't the slightest hint of headache or heartache for Washburn this past Nov. 2 when he waltzed to a landslide victory in Orem's mayoral race with nearly 75 percent of the vote. And Washburn loyalists who have chronicled his evolution over several decades say his eventual success in any arena is never an accident.
"Whatever activities he's been involved in, it's only a short time before he's been in a leadership position," said longtime Washburn friend and former Orem mayor DeLance Squire.
Polished, well-dressed and typically exuding professionalism, Washburn credits his father -- a car mechanic and subsequent business partner -- with helping to set the tone for his no-nonsense attitude toward business.
"My father had a tremendous work ethic and valued getting the job done and being committed," Washburn said. "He never had a spot of grease on his coveralls and never had grease on his hands, and he was a master mechanic."
Some, like Washburn's wife of 33 years, Betty, see the blue-eyed son as a similar sort to his mechanic father -- a type A personality who takes his work super-seriously and has a quiet but staunch distaste for defeat or failure.
"But I don't think that I am," Washburn said. "I think she sees me as a little more hard-working and perfectionistic than I am. . . . Nobody is all one (personality) or another."
Parental influence may only partially explain Washburn's temperament, demeanor and competitiveness. There was something else driving him: polio. Stricken with the potentially paralyzing and sometimes fatal disease in the pre-vaccination days when polio was an epidemic, the highly contagious infection nearly claimed Washburn's life when he was 2 years old. The disease would leave its mark on Washburn's body and mind.
"It does affect you," Washburn said. "I grew up wanting to be as normal as possible. I must say I think it has given me a determination to succeed. . . . Having that kind of limitation has been very, very valuable. It has taught me patience. I think it gives a sense of compassion for others who struggle for one reason or another, whether it's physical or financial or whatever.
"My mother used to always tell me, 'Sometimes those apparent obstacles become opportunities.' And if you deal with them properly, they become that. . . . I don't want any special privileges based on that. You don't want people to feel sorry for you."
To this day, Washburn still walks with a noticeable limp, his left side partially restricted by his bout with polio. Unable to participate in organized athletics during his school days, Washburn said he turned to music and academics, bred English bulldogs and raised horses.
"That gave me a sense of mobility, a sense of freedom," Washburn said of being seated on a horse. "Being able to ride in the foothills, that was exciting."
Despite polio, Washburn said his parents cut him no slack and instead tried to make their eldest son "tough and self-reliant." Tough, but not rude. This resilient 5-foot-8, 165-pound man, who said he so enjoyed being in the debate club in high school, is nevertheless appalled by how political disagreements are increasingly turning into mean-spirited personal attacks. He says one of his goals as the city's part-time mayor for the next two years will be "to teach people to negotiate without being mad."
"If we could somehow bury anger . . . ," Washburn said. "Unfortunately, it's a characteristic of our society. We don't want to come to a point where we are dysfunctional . . . to where we are crippled by selfishness or whatever else."
Washburn was likely alluding indirectly to tensions among several members of Orem's City Council, whose public bickering and terse exchanges have become highly evident and well-documented in recent months.
"I honestly think (Washburn is) one of the best things that could happen to Orem," Squire said. "He's a very strong executive, so maybe (council members) can start acting like executives instead of a bunch of juveniles. They needed someone who could act like a leader. Right now, no offense to our current mayor (interim mayor Chris Yandow), but all of 'em act like they're trying to be mayor."
In the worst-case scenario, Orem's soon-to-be figurehead and council referee could perhaps adopt a tried-and-true technique he learned from his mother, a former schoolteacher and undisputed expert on keeping order in the classroom.
"She was able to establish respect early on," Washburn said. "I remember she threw a piece of chalk that got my attention and every other kids'."