Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation Honors Senator Al Simpson’s Birthday
Written by Caleb Nelson on September 6, 2022
The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation is wishing Senator Alan K. Simpson, one of the inspirations for its Mineta-Simpson Institute, a “happy 91st birthday.”
As part of their celebration for the birthdays of Al and his wife Ann, who turns 91 on Oct. 10th, the Foundation is promoting a “Show Your Love” fundraising campaign for the Mineta-Simpson Institute.
The campaign is backed by a “$500,000” challenge grant from the Hughes Charitable Foundation, which is also lending its expertise and support. The challenge grant is honor of Al’s birthday and his Presidential Medal of Freedom, which he was awarded in July.
The Mineta-Simpson Institute promotes “the ideals embodied by Al and his longtime friend, the late Secretary Norman Mineta.” The two first met as Boy Scouts at the Heart Mountain prison camp for Japanese Americans. They were reunited in the 1970s when they demonstrated that political disagreements “need not distract from our common belief in decency, the rule of law, and the ideals of democracy,” the Institute writes. Norm and Al were each awarded the Medal of Freedom, each by a different president from a different political party.
Groundbreaking for the Mineta-Simpson Institute took place during the Foundation’s July 30th Pilgrimage. Al, Ann, and members of the Simpson family joined Deni Mineta, Norm’s widow, and members of the extended Mineta family at the event.
“As its name reflects, this Show Your Love Campaign is about heartfelt relationships,” Aura Sunada Newlin, Heart Mountain’s interim executive director, says. “The Simpsons have long been a beloved part of the fabric in our Wyoming communities and our national political landscape, and this partnership with the Hughes Charitable Foundation provides the impetus for friends and admirers to let Al and Ann know that they are cherished.”
For more information about the Show Your Love campaign, click here.
Heart Mountain Interpretive Center tells the story of over 14,000 Japanese Americans unjustly incarcerated in Wyoming from 1942 to 1945. The center is located between Cody and Powell on Highway 14A and is currently open Wednesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information about this event, call the interpretive center at (307) 754-8000 or email info@heartmountain.org.
