Sen. Stevens honors Paul Wellstone
Sen. Paul Wellstone's death evoked difficult memories for Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, whose wife died in a plane crash in Anchorage in 1978.
Congress reconvened for its lame-duck session on Tuesday with speeches from Stevens and other Senate colleagues of Wellstone. The Democratic Minnesota senator died Oct. 25 in a plane crash near Eveleth, Minn., with his wife Sheila and daughter Marcia. Three campaign staff members and two pilots also perished.
"When I learned that the senator's plane had gone down in Minnesota, it was difficult to convey my thoughts," Stevens said on the Senate floor on Tuesday. "I recalled the day in 1978 when the plane carrying my wife Ann and myself crashed at the Anchorage Airport. The time that followed was a difficult one for our family.
"The death of a colleague, loved one, or friend is never easy, but to lose that person in an accident is often worse because you don't always get the chance to say goodbye."
Stevens, an Alaska Republican, also recalled the death of Alaska Congressman Nick Begich, whose plane was lost over Alaska in 1972.
While acknowledging he did not see eye to eye with Wellstone on many issues, Stevens added he "respected Paul for fighting for what he believed in, and for his personal toughness that never let physical problems slow him down."
Stevens voiced his admiration for Wellstone's advocacy of mental and physical health parity and his wife Sheila's efforts on behalf of domestic abuse victims.
"Grief is a process that helps heal the heart," Stevens said. "We will always miss Paul, but we can honor his memory by keeping after our business, testing our ideas on the campaign trail and on the Senate floor. Paul would have wanted it that way."
Timothy Inklebarger can be reached at timothyi@juneauempire.com.