Gov. George Deukmejian Dies At 89

Above, Gov. George Deukmejian at the H. L. Hunt estate in Dallas, Texas in 1984. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Sad news has come from California.

Former Governor George Deukmejian, the last really decent governor of California, has died of age 89. (I was not a fan of Pete Wilson, who succeeded Deukmejian.)

According to the Los Angeles Times:

George Deukmejian, a perennially popular two-term Republican governor of California who built his career on fighting crime, hardening the state's criminal justice stance and shoring up its leaky finances, died on Tuesday. He was 89 years old. 

Deukmejian, who was elected governor in 1982 and 1986, died at his home in Long Beach, according to a statement from his family. 

During his many years of public service, including 16 years as a state legislator and four as state attorney general, Deukmejian sponsored the successful "use a gun, go to prison" bill, oversaw development of a workfare program for welfare recipients and negotiated with the Democrat-controlled Legislature to create an $18.5-billion, 10-year transportation plan.

During the 1984 Republican National Convention, the California Delegation (of which I was a part of) was hosted at a party at the H. L. Hunt estate in Dallas, Texas. Governor Deukmejian was presented with a cowboy hat and a pair of cowboy boots.

To read more, go here. 

Blue Bell Ice Cream and Mount Vernon

Back in 1984, I was a member of the Ronald Reagan California Delegation to the Republican National Convention.

The convention was held in Dallas, Texas that year. But, the month it was held was in August, probably the hottest month of the year in Texas.

One of the activities convention organizers arranged for the California Delegation was a party at Mount Vernon, the home of oilman H. L. Hunt's widow, on the banks of White Rock Lake. As she was a non-drinker, the only beverage that was served that day was lemonade. I don't remember seeing water there. The lemonade would have been fine, except the party was held when the outside temperature was 112 degrees.

Above, H.L. Hunt's Mount Vernon estate in Dallas is an almost exact replica of George Washington's.

We had to endure the temperatures drinking lemonade until a big truck showed up at Mount Vernon. It contained Blue Bell Ice Cream.

Once the truck unloaded the ice cream, we got as many containers (half pints) as we could get away with and consumed them.

What brought this story up was that I saw the ad at the top of this blog post for Blue Bell Ice Cream and that jogged a 30-year-old-memory. I haven't seen Blue Bell Ice Cream in ages.

By the way, Mount Vernon is currently on the for-sale market. The asking price: $29 million.