RIP Jim Hunt

Former 4-term governor of N.C. passed yesterday

Personal memories of Jim Hunt.

No question he has his detractors, but my personal memories run deeply and widely. Former Duke University President and U.S. Senator Terry Sanford was asked to explain his supreme confidence. He said, “Jim Hunt and I developed campaigns in which we got at least a ten dollar donation from ten people in every precinct in North Carolina.” Wow. Talk about grassroots organizing.

I wrote a column making shameless fun of one of Hunt’s political opponents. Standing in front of a local restaurant, a car stopped beside me. Hunt emerged with a copy of the column in his hand and threw his arms around me. He liked the column.

During a controversy surrounding the N.C. Highway Patrol, Hunt told me privately, he does not mess with the Highway Patrol. He did not use the word “mess.”

At another political gathering, he caught sight of my name tag and said, “Pat Jobe, you are a sight for sore eyes.” Lovely.

Walking away from a rally for John Kerry and John Ewards, I caught his arm and said, “Governor, I’d like you to meet my son, Pepper.” It might not have meant much to Pepper, but it meant the world to me. I guess I loved that particular politician.

One more touch from our family. Allen Jobe, my dad and Pepper’s grandaddy, was visiting the governor in his Raleigh office. He asked, “Allen, can I do anything for you?” Allen said, “Governor, we need a little better power line run down Withrow Road in Forest City.” Hunt got Duke Power president Bill Lee on the phone and said, “I’ve got Allen Jobe in my office and he needs a high capacity power line run down Withrow Road in Forest City.” It happened.

And finally Thurman Padgem called Hunt when the Old Fort Finishing Plant was closed. A few minutes passed and Thurman got a call from the president of his company who said, “Some guy just called me objecting to our closing the plant and he claims to be the governor of North Carolina.”

Four terms as governor and so much progress including urging the legislature to create the North Carolina School of Science and Math, attended by two of our sons.