Alaskans remember Gatto's life

PALMER — Flags are at half-staff today as Alaskans from the Mat-Su Valley to Washington, D.C., are mourning the loss of longtime Alaskan and lawmaker Rep. Carl Gatto.

A native New Yorker, who moved to Alaska in 1968 and together with wife Cathy raised four children here, Rep. Gatto died around 12:30 a.m., April 10 in a Washington hospital after a 10-year battle with cancer. He was 74.

Chief of staff Karen Sawyer said she immediately notified Rep. Gatto’s colleagues on the floor of the House of Representatives and Rep. Bill Stoltze (R-Chugiak) made a formal announcement.

“I know those that talked to Carl knew he was at peace with his maker. We know about Carl’s spirituality. We know about his peace that he had with what he had faced since he began his service here. I would also like to extend our sympathies to his wife Cathy who I am so grateful that he got to spend his last days with and his two daughters and his son,” Stoltze said in an audio recording of that floor session.

Gatto was first elected to the Legislature in 2002. And in late February, he told the Frontiersman he would not seek re-election. Cancer was a part of it, but not the biggest factor. Cancer was something he battled throughout his legislative career.

He missed part of this year’s session getting cancer treatments and his trip to Seattle wasn’t planned.

Sawyer said the reaction to the news of Gatto's death Tuesday was swift.

“As soon as I told the speaker and they announced on the floor, it’s spread like wildfire,” she said by phone from Juneau Tuesday. “He was well loved.”

Mat-Su Senior Services’ Rachel Greenberg said Gatto was a staunch supporter of the senior center.

“Ever since he got into office he’s just been a huge, huge supporter of ours. And we’re big fans of his,” she said. “It’s been a heartbreaking day today.”

She said seniors at the organization’s center in Palmer put together a photo album for his staffers to use as part of a retirement party they were planning.

“I’m hoping that he got a chance to see it before he passed away,” she said.

Gatto’s first year in office he secured a badly needed new oven for the center. He also was instrumental in securing funding to build the newly opened, larger senior center in Palmer. He’d stop by every other week when he wasn’t in Juneau.

The center even has a van with his name on it. The van was purchased in part with unexpended campaign cash that Gatto was legally required to spend.

“He didn’t know what to do with it, so he gave it to us, and we named a van after him,” Greenberg said.

She said Gatto was worried about it though because he said he wasn’t allowed to give money to have things named for him.

“We said, ‘yeah but if you give us the money and we decide to put the name on it, then they can’t be mad at us, right?’ He said, ‘O.K. but I’m not supporting it.’”

Gatto’s Valley colleagues in the house — Stoltze, Mark Neuman of Big Lake, Wes Keller of Wasilla and Eric Feige of Chickaloon — released a joint statement expressing their condolences.

“We’ll miss his buoyant laugh, quick wit and common-sense approach to legislating. Carl worked tirelessly for the Valley and never once let his condition affect his work or efforts on behalf of the state and community he so loved,” their statement said, in part.

Similar remembrances from colleagues and constituents alike from near and far continue to pour into Gatto's Facebook page.

“Carl was a good man whose hard work and dedication to Alaska will not be forgotten,” U.S. Rep. Don Young’s office said in a statement posted to Facebook.

“My thoughts and prayers — and those of many Alaskans — are with Rep. Carl Gatto,” read a note from U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s office.

Tuesday afternoon Gov. Sean Parnell ordered state flags lowered to half-staff in Gatto's honor.

“Sandy and I were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Representative Gatto,” Parnell said in a statement. “Alaska has lost a great public servant who will be remembered for his wit and wisdom, his commitment to education and veterans’ issues, and his unwavering support for the people of the Mat-Su.”

Sawyer said Gatto’s entry into politics coincided with her own. She’s been with him for three and a half years.

“It’s so hard to imagine that he’s not here,” she said.

Gatto’s family plans a memorial service in the Valley and will announce details later, she said.

According to Gatto's resume on his Republican party webpage, Gatto was born in New York City, went to college in Brooklyn, Arizona and California and moved to Alaska in 1968. He was a paramedic and a firefighter with the Anchorage Fire Department before being elected to the house.