I was sad to see an argument on these pages become personal recently, about a man the letter-writer did not likely know is an Alaska legend. We should find a way to be civil to each other, even when we disagree. Orin Seybert, an Alaska aviation pioneer, has led his life being civil to others.
Orin grew up in Western Alaska in Pilot Point. He accurately calls himself a “Jay Hammond Republican.” He has always been kind to me, given me advice and shared his thoughts on how to improve the lives of others when I served as a legislator. I, too, was friends with Jay Hammond. Like Jay, Orin just wants a state where people of all incomes can thrive, not a state defined by party differences.
Orin was the founder of the original Penair at a time people in Western Alaska needed a more affordable way to travel. He started flying by volunteering to take people who needed medical care from villages to towns where they could receive treatment. As he said on these pages in an interview in 2012, “It wasn’t until a doctor at the hospital suggested that he had a budget and could pay me …” that he ever considered compensation for helping others.
We’ll all be better if we can be as civil on these pages to those we don’t know, as we would be to our friends and family.
— Les Gara
Candidate for governor and former legislator
Anchorage
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