The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Former Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup is turning 85 on Nov. 14. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis has him tethered to oxygen 24/7 and Bob is telling me stories, while he still can, at his dining table, all the while smiling that indefatigable smile.
From Ames, Iowa, Walkupโs still tall as a barn and honest as a cornfield. When this cross between Harry Truman and Jimmy Stewart, with a touch of Ike, says aloud, โThe thought of telling a lie is so painful,โ you believe him.
This give-me-a-problem-weโll-fix-it man served in the Army Corps of Civil Engineers, oversaw Fairchild-Republicโs production of the A-10, seamlessly consolidated and moved Hughesโ newly acquired missile production operations to Tucson and led 6,000 skilled taxpayers to Tucson.
When Bob was mayor, Tucson annexed the land his old missile-making employer sat on, hauling in a bundle of revenue for our city, helped create the Regional Transportation Authority plan, persevered through Rio Nuevoโs initial boondoggles, kick started the streetcar and planted the seeds that would revitalize our downtown.
I told him I thought his greatest accomplishment was rebuilding a โ77 VW surfer van to cherry perfection. Bob laughed. We sat among the many grandfather clocks he made for his kids. โGood legacy,โ I said.
Legacy has been on his mind.
A lifelong Republican, he told me his greatest regret was not standing up to the tea party in 2006 when they cleansed his beloved party of the old-school Republicans. Folks like himself.
When he went to the statehouse asking for help, the tea-party punks sneered at him, deriding him as a โRINOโ โ Republican in Name Only. Bobโs sin? โWhen a proposal came up I asked myself, โIs it right or wrong? Good or bad? Not, โIs this an R or a D?โโ
I voted for Bob three times.
โI was a track star,โ he told me. โSet the state record for hurdles in 1954.โ Never waste your time trying to slow Walkup down with hurdles. Engineers love challenges.
Attending his 60th birthday party, Sally Drachman, a Tucson philanthropist on the board of everything, greeted Bob with the title she hoped heโd hold. โHi, Mister Mayor.โ
Then she added, semi-apologetically, โOh, itโs just you.โ
The hint stuck with Bob.
โMayor. I like that title. Thatโs the title for somebody trying to do something,โ Bob told me. โI donโt want to be โjustโ Bob. I can learn how to do this.
Beth, his bride, partner and personal โJames Carville,โ nudged him. โYouโd be a great mayor. And Iโd be a great campaign manager.โ Bethโs dad and grandfather had been mayors of small towns in the heartland.
An accomplished educator and fundraiser, she met Bob when she was representing Care International at a conference back in โ94. The focus was on raising money for a Challenger Center at Tucsonโs Childrenโs Museum. Bethโs first impression of Captain Confident was, โWho does he think he is?โ
Weeks before the โ99 mayoral election he went to a candidatesโ debate in the Carrillo Elementary School cafeteria. Most candidates bored the assembled kids with talk of streetlights and potholes.
When it was Bobโs turn he pulled the mic off its stand and sat down on the bottom step to speak eye to eye with the third graders. โHow many of you have a pet?โ Bob talked about his love for his dog, Zoey. โYou love and protect and care for your pet, right?โ
Same with our parents, and our friends, and our city, right? The master storyteller wove it all together and promised, if elected, to return with his beloved pooch. True to his promise the first thing the newly elected mayor did was return to Carillo, his pup in tow. โThey loved him!โ
Beneath Bobโs perpetually cheerful exterior is a strong sense of right and wrong.
Mayor Walkup was invited to speak at a conference of mayors from all over Russia in Almaty, Kazakhistan, one of Tucsonโs six sister cities. Beth told him what sheโd learned that morning at a domestic violence shelter about oppressive attitudes about women throughout the region.
Bob addressed the mayors. โWe donโt have snow like you do.โ
Laughter.
He then talked about what we do have in Tucson: compassion for the welfare of women and intolerance for domestic violence. No laughter. โI was not warmly received by the crowd.โ
Bob was mayor when six Tucsonans were killed and 12 wounded by a man with a Glock semi-automatic pistol on Jan. 8, 2011. Bob welcomed President Barack Obama to Tucson and watched him scribble his speech on the run. We Tucsonans gathered at McKale to hear the president.
โWe may ask ourselves if weโve shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives,โ Obama said. โPerhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children and our community, whether our priorities are in order. We recognize our own mortality.โ
This next line is Bobโs favorite part.
โAnd we are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth or status or power or fame, but rather how well we have loved and what small part we have played in making the lives of other people better.โ
These words, this sentiment of service sums up Bob Walkupโs life.
โBeth and I want that on our tombstone.โ
