Virginia Schmidt

My first column dubbing our late, great Al Simpson as Wyoming’s own King Arthur accidentally ran under the author name “Virginia Livingston.” 

I laughed lovingly at the error because I admire Virginia Livingston, another dedicated public servant in our dear community who stood as a longtime cornerstone of the Park County Library. 

Then I went into sleuth mode, wondering, (as I often do) could this “mistake” mean to point me somewhere exciting and unexpected? Perhaps to the subject of my next column?! Follow the clues, Virge! 

Hmmm … I’d be willing to bet Al Simpson was close to at least one of the Livingstons in a real meaningful way, I thought.

What about Livingston Elementary School in Cody — for which Livingston was the school named? (Yes; I grew up here, and I wasn’t sure). A quick Google search revealed: Glenn Livingston (1914-1990). 

Next search: “Al Simpson and Glenn Livingston.” Bingo! The results yielded an article entitled, “A Wyoming Friendship Born in one of America’s darkest hours,” published by CBS News in 2019. The story told the tale of close friends and colleagues, Sen. Al Simpson and Cabinet Secretary Norm Mineta, who met as fellow young Boy Scouts of America at Heart Mountain Internment Camp during World War II. The former, a Cody Boy Scout, the latter, a relocated California Boy Scout of Japanese-American descent confined within the barbed wire fences of Heart Mountain. 

This epic, chummy, world-changing meeting of two boys-to-become-great-men never would have happened had Simpson’s “forward-thinking Scoutmaster” not done what every single other Scoutmaster in Wyoming refused to do: Take his troop into the heart of Heart Mountain Internment Camp to meet their detained peers as fellow Boy Scouts of America, rather than shun them as prisoners of war who did not deserve visiting. 

And so a WWII Heart Mountain “Boy Scout Jamboree” planted the seed for what would blossom into a mutually respectful and genuinely loving lifelong camaraderie between Simpson, a Wyoming Republican, and Mineta, a California Democrat. 

Their relationship became emblematic of how such authentic human connection across party lines could help cure the deep rift and distressing lack of civility in our American government. To the point that when the Mineta-Simpson Institute of Heart Mountain Internment Center opened in July 2024, both President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush recorded special videos for the occasion, noting how Simpson and Mineta’s friendship and collaboration exemplified what our country needed most. 

I watched these videos, along with a most edifying lecture, projected onto a big screen on the wall of the Mineta-Simpson Institute itself during an April 10 presentation hosted by the Cody Culture Club to celebrate the import of these men’s shared legacy.

So who was the open-minded, big-hearted Scoutmaster without whose upstanding initiative Simpson and Mineta might never have met? None other than Glenn Livingston. An Eagle Scout himself as a boy, Glenn — fondly known as “Livy” — earned the Boy Scouts of America’s highest distinction given to adult scout leaders: The Silver Beaver Award. 

To list all the public-service related endeavors and accomplishments of Livy would take a whole column in itself — truly. As I searched through the 8-inch thick “Livingston” file in the Park County Archives (thank you, Park County archivists!), most of the papers mentioned this man who, I came to recognize, lived as an exemplar of a public servant. 

Here are just some of Livy’s public service roles and accolades: He served in the Cody School District for 35 years as teacher, principal (of all three elementary schools), superintendent, and director of elementary education. He served on Cody City Council for 23 years including as president. He helped found and served on the board of the Park County Mental Health Association. He was a junior high basketball coach and director of the Cody summer recreation program. He served as longtime member and president of the Lions Club, member and exalted ruler of the Elks Club and a member of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church Parish Board. Livy also served as the president-elect of the Wyoming Education Association, and of course had an elementary school in Cody — Livingston — dedicated to him in 1979. 

Al Simpson’s passing inspired me to dedicate my regular column to folks to whom we can “touch the cap” in humble acknowledgment as we look up to them in hopeful aspiration. I began to realize how much I — and perhaps we — need examples of people who devote their lives to something bigger than themselves: Helping others. 

An accidental publishing error on my last column led me to Livy, one of the men who helped shape (as his Scoutmaster, basketball coach, superintendent, and principal) a man President George W. Bush called “one of the finest public servants ever to have graced our nation’s capital” — Al Simpson. 

When we step into roles of public and community service, we dedicate ourselves to helping guide the footsteps of those who will follow … and we never know how big the imprints we impart might be.