Newcomb leaves legacy of service

WASILLA — Faced with a delicious dilemma, Harold Newcomb’s first thought was to help his neighbors.

That was 20 years ago, and the dilemma was what to do with six turkeys he had been given. Instead of freezing them and having meat for months, the two-time Wasilla mayor and community activist got in touch with his friend and restaurateur, Bob Bowers.

“Harold Newcomb got these turkeys, and he was the original guy who asked me to cook them up,” said Bob Bowers, one of the founding volunteers behind the annual Christmas Friendship Dinner.

That first year, the dinner fed 90 residents on Christmas Day. In 2011, the event fed an estimated 2,800 people. Organizers dedicated the most recent community feast to Newcomb as its originator.

“It all started because of Harold. When I was walking through the restaurant, he said, ‘Hey, somebody gave us six turkeys. I’m thinking about cooking these turkeys off over at the senior center and feeding some people.’”

The Christmas Friendship Dinner is a small part of the legacy Harold Sherwood Newcomb, who died Monday morning, leaves to Wasilla and the Valley. He was 83.

Serving two terms as Wasilla mayor in the 1980s during one of the city’s most trying financial crunches, Newcomb will be remembered as an eternal optimist who always looked to the future, said current Mayor Verne Rupright.

“Harold left us a legacy of optimism and looking always forward. Even right at the end, here’s an individual who came from relatively abject want when he went into the Army and left home,” Rupright said. “He was always looking forward to the day we would see what we’re seeing here in the Valley now. He could see the future and understood it. … He would plant these seeds, nurture them a little bit and watch them flourish.”

One of those seeds was planted when he purchased the land around Wasilla Lake that is now known as Harold Newcomb Park. In a 2011 Frontiersman interview, Newcomb said he paid $2 for the land and preserved it in honor of Chief Wasilla, the city’s namesake.

“I’m really partial to that park,” Newcomb said. “Sometimes I just sit and stare at the lake and watch the kids playing. It brings back a lot of old memories.”

Some of those memories may have included being honored in 2002 with the prestigious Denali Award for lifetime achievement at the Alaskan of the Year banquet. He also served with many local volunteer clubs and organizations.

Going farther back, those memories may also include running away from his home in Georgia at age 14 and joining the U.S. Army, which brought him to Alaska in 1948. He moved from Fort Richardson to the Wasilla area in 1952. He married Patricia, the daughter of a Matanuska colonist, they raised four children and now have nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

His many pursuits included owning and operating a hardware store and the Hallea Lodge on Lake Lucille. He was a real estate agent and was once a newspaper publisher, founding the Valley Press, which published from 1984 to 1985.

Newcomb also was on the steering committee for incorporation of the Mat-Su Borough in 1964, was on the initial Mat-Su Borough Assembly and won election for two terms as Wasilla mayor.

Perhaps Newcomb’s best quality was having the commitment to act when he saw a need, said state Sen. Linda Menard.

“Mainly, he correctly put himself where he could be of most use, which was for the community,” she said. Along with his wife, “They were really in a lot of ways the movers and shakers of Wasilla. There are a few people who are just born to be politicians and make things happen for a community, and Harold was one of those.”

Cathy Tilton served as administrative assistant to many Wasilla mayors, including Charlie Bumpus and Newcomb. She recalls that even during his terms in the economic crash of the 1980s, Newcomb always was positive and upbeat.

His passion for the city is what Tilton said she remembers.

“At that time, he was full of life. We did all the events we could do. I remember that because of the low time in the economy, we did a Survivor’s Ball, where all the community who survived that time got together,” Tilton said “… His legacy would be a generous heart. He was a jovial person, he always approached everything with a happy heart.”

That optimism also is what Rupright said he will remember as Newcomb’s legacy.

“He went through the lean times when we were in the throes of the economic crash in the ’80s, yet he in his pioneer spirit, just toughed it out,” he said. “Tomorrow’s a better day, that’s how he saw it. I never saw him grumpy, never saw him get mad, never saw him lose it. He lived his life that way.”

While community leaders opine on Newcomb’s legacy for Wasilla, Newcomb gave his own secret to success in life in that 2011 Frontiersman interview.

“I gave more than I got,” he said. “That was always my motto and I taught my kids to give more than you get, too. In my mind, I’ve had the life I dreamed of as a kid.”

Contact reporter Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

A celebration of life service for Harold Newcomb is from 2 to 4 p.m., May 19 at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla. The community is invited.