Governor William Allen Egan Signature Preceded by Robert W. Ward Name H. Boucher | Political party Democratic Party Democratic Party Occupation merchant, consultant Succeeded by Lowell Thomas, Jr. | |
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Born January 27, 1921
Nashua, New Hampshire ( 1921-01-27 ) Died June 19, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska, United States | ||
Henry Aristide "Red" Boucher, Jr. (January 27, 1921 – June 19, 2009) was the second Lieutenant Governor of Alaska from 1970 to 1974. He had also served as mayor of Fairbanks, Alaska from 1966 to 1970, and in the Alaska House of Representatives.
Biography
Born in Nashua, New Hampshire to Henry Aristide Boucher, Sr. and Helen Isabel Cameron, Boucher's father died shortly after his birth from lingering effects of exposure to mustard gas in World War I at the Battle of Verdun in 1916. His mother was one of the first female chief petty officers in the United States Navy. He earned the nickname "Red" after he met President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a child who reportedly told him, "They ought to call you Red." in reference to his red hair. After his mother developed multiple sclerosis, he and his brother were placed in St. Vincent's Orphanage in Fall River, Massachusetts. Boucher enlisted in the Navy at age 17, served aboard the USS Enterprise in the Pacific during World War II as an expert signalman and a meteorologist and achieved the rank of Chief Petty Officer. He served during the Battle of Midway and numerous other battles for a total of twenty years in the Navy, including a stint on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga as chief petty officer for communications and meteorology.
Boucher and his family came to Alaska, settling in Fairbanks in 1958 after John F. Kennedy, whom he campaigned for, told him there was great potential in the far north territory. He founded the Fairbanks Goldpanners baseball team in the 1960s, setting up the roots of the Alaska Baseball League. He served on the Fairbanks City Council before becoming mayor in 1966. He was elected Lieutenant Governor of Alaska under the second administration of Governor William Allen Egan, serving from 1970 to 1974. Afterwards, served in the Alaska House of Representatives and later served on the Anchorage Assembly. He also had an interest in telecommunications, sparked by the first Apple computers, and became known as a telecommunications whiz whose successes included a crusade to boost Internet access in remote Alaska villages. Boucher suffered a stroke in 2005 and died aged 88 on June 19, 2009 at his home in Anchorage.