"I honestly don't know of a single person who does not have a high regard for her,” said former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt of Olene Walker, Utah’s first and only female governor, who passed away last Saturday at the age of 85. That regard was manifest both publicly — she left office with an unprecedented 87 percent approval rating — and privately among those who recognized Gov. Walker as a compassionate trailblazer who, even during her truncated two-year term in office, left an indelible mark on the state she led so tirelessly and so well.
Her devotion to education was the centerpiece of her administration, and she rarely gave a speech where she didn’t counsel parents to read aloud to their children at least 20 minutes a day. She was not afraid to stand up to her own party to protect her educational priorities, notably vetoing a voucher bill that she insisted would do financial damage to public schools. On this and other issues, she followed her conscience regardless of the political consequences.
Yet her policy influence extended well beyond education. As the majority whip in the Utah House of Representatives, Walker spearheaded the creation of the Utah Rainy Day Fund that has proven invaluable in recent years. Walker also initially proposed the state flat tax that her successor eventually implemented, and she commanded the respect of lawmakers and elected officials from both sides of the aisle.
“Even though I was a Democrat, it didn’t matter,” said Meghan Holbrook, who served as chairwoman of the Utah Democratic Party during Walker’s time in office. “She was strategic, she was smart, she was witty, she was tough. She did politics with grace and compassion and great good will — all in high heels.”
Prior to politics, Walker was a homemaker and mother of seven children who rose from her humble beginnings on a farm in Weber County to hold the highest office in the Beehive State. Yet even as her power and influence increased, she remained down-to-earth, approachable and wholly unaffected by the trappings of her office.
In one of the final interviews of her life, Walker was asked how she would like people to remember her.
“That I was kind and caring and somewhat intelligent,” she said. “That I was willing to listen. And that I was not only willing to talk, but I was willing to do. That I worked my best to improve conditions for everyone in the state."
She was all of that and much more. Olene Walker, a true Utah original, will be sorely missed.