Hi Friends,

Happy Mother’s day to my mom, Alyse. I’m writing today with a short story about what my mom and her campaign means to me:

I am now nearly the same age as my mom in this photo below. She calmly sang Natural Woman to me as I cried on our flight moving to Alaska to care for her aging parents and raise us four kids in Alaska. My parents earlier found work together at a restaurant downtown. She was a server and he was a busser. We returned to Anchorage when my dad started his career, allowing my mom to commit herself fully to motherhood.

We lived in a little duplex in downtown Anchorage and would go on long bike rides around the coastal trail. As my brother Sean was added to the family, we offered a great workout for my parents as we lounged in trailers pulled behind their bikes. In the winter, we would hike over to the lagoon despite the impediments that were our one-piece snowsuits and ice skate or fish.

Recently, I spoke with my mom about the real sacrifices she, like many mothers of that time, had to make to raise our family. As my new sister was nearing the age of two, my father was offered a new job working for the state. This meant moving to Juneau, starting over in many ways, and homeschooling for half of the year with my mother.

The adjustment was really hard for me and my siblings – One day as I returned and my mom asked me about my day at school, I picked a fight with her in a way I had not before. She calmly gave me a lesson that defines who I am today. She told me, “Look Cooper, you can be the smartest person in the world, but it all means nothing if you do not care about people.” My mom has a unique ability to leverage her own and others empathy to diffuse a uselessly destructive situation.

Whether it was organizing a grassroots movement to advocate for public education or bringing a six-pack of Diet Pepsi to my mentally ill grandmother who was calling us for the 27th time that day, my mother has deeply cared for every person in her world.

The photo journey allowed me to look at my lifetime (half of hers) in the larger context of our evolving relationship. Through her community engagement, she has learned to listen better than ever. Through years of reading and engaging with her neighbors, she now has a clear vision for our state’s future that I am so excited for.

As a scientist, what matters to me most is that when my mom says she will trust expert advice to do what is best for Alaskans and America, she really means it. For the hard questions, she recognizes that she cannot be an expert at everything, and is persistent in searching for the best answer, whether it comes from her, is hard to hear, or is inconvenient. My mom’s curious humility has raised me to be the man I am today and will allow her to serve our state and country strongly.

Happy Mother’s Day and thank you for reading.

Stay Safe,
Dr. Cooper Galvin