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What Does Sarah Palin Believe ?

By Michael Patrick Leahy

Copyright 2008 by Michael Patrick Leahy

CHAPTER ONE—IRISH CATHOLIC ROOTS

Sarah Palin’s personal character was formed by the Alaskawilderness and her tightly knit family. From her mother, SallySheeran Heath, she received her faith. From her father,Charles R. “Chuck” Heath, she received her love of sportsand the outdoors.1 Growing up in the small communities ofSkagway and Wasilla, Alaska during the 1960’s and 1970’s,Sarah’s life personifies the ideal of the independent selfreliant American who understands the importance of faith,family, community, and country.

Much has been written about the impact of her “post-denominational” Christian faith on her public policydecisions since she was selected by John McCain as hisrunning mate on August 29th . To date, however, no one hasaddressed the central role her own Irish Catholic heritage hasplayed in the development of her belief structure.

Her older brother Chuck was baptized in St. Joseph’sRoman Catholic Church in Sandpoint, Idaho in 1962, and herolder sister Heather was also baptized there in 1963.2 Sarah,however, was baptized at her mother’s former church inRichland, Washington where her grandparents still attended,Christ the King Roman Catholic Church.

Her baptism was a bittersweet event for her grandparents,coming only weeks before the Heath family moved to

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Skagway, Alaska, in June, 1964, four months after Sarah’sbirth in Sandpoint, Idaho on February 11, 1964.

Her mother took great care to make sure that all herchildren were properly educated in their Catholic faith whilein Skagway. Sarah herself clearly recalls receiving catechisminstruction in Skagway when she was four or five years old,walking home by herself from the old Native Mission, wheremass and instruction took place while her family lived inSkagway.3

When the family moved to Eagle River in 1969, hermother began a faith journey that culminated in her ownconversion and baptism as well as her daughter’s baptism inLittle Beaver Creek Lake by Assembly of God pastor Paul E.Riley in 1976. Sally Heath’s conversion during this period hasremained an extraordinarily private matter, but hints can befound in the sea change in Catholicism brought about byVatican II at precisely this time.

When Sally Heath left Skagway in the summer of 1969,St. Therese Child of Jesus pastor Father Miller, or hisimmediate successor, was saying mass in Latin. When shearrived to attend Eagle River’s St. Andrew’s Roman CatholicChurch in the fall of 1969, Father Joseph E. Shirey wassaying mass in English.4 Two years later, Helen Riley, wife ofWasilla Assembly of God pastor Paul E. Riley, recalls, shestarted attending their church, neither offering or being askedthe reason for her departure from the Catholic Church, butquietly and enthusiastically enjoying the worship services withher children. 5

Along with her three siblings, Sarah experienced theidyllic and adventurous youth that has defined the best of theAmerican frontier since the dawn of the republic. She’s thestrong modern American woman, straight from Republicancentral casting, a savvier and more experienced version ofJimmy Stewart’s character in the classic movie Mr. SmithGoes to Washington.

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It’s no accident her speech at the 2008 RepublicanNational Convention drew comparison to the firstRepublican politician from central casting, Ronald Reagan.Indeed, Reagan’s own story parallels that of her own IrishCatholic grandfather, Clement James Sheeran, the man whosedevout faith guided her mother’s faith journey, who in turn,guided hers.

The two men were born four years apart, Clement JamesSheeran in 1907 in Douglas, Washington, Ronald WilsonReagan in 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. They could easily havebeen cousins, would likely have been friends had they grownup in the same town.

Both were affable, athletic, and ambitious with IrishCatholic fathers. Both were third generation Irish Catholicswho grew up in the small towns of the American Midwestand West.

Reagan’s great-grandfather, Michael, left CountyTipperary, Ireland in the 1840’s. As the New York Timesreported in 1981:

A few years later, the family moved to northwesternIllinois, probably by way of Canada. In the United Statescensus of 1860, Michael Reagan was listed as the owner offarm real estate worth $1,120. 6

Clem’s great-grandfather, Michael Sheeran, left Ireland,coming most likely from County Roscommon, an inlandcounty just east of County Galway3 in 1844, arriving inVermont, possibly through Canada also, where grandfatherMichael James Sheeran was born in 1852. By the 1870’s theSheerans had moved to Minnesota, where Clem’s fatherMichael James Sheeran, Junior was born.7

Reagan’s father was an alcoholic who had a hard timeholding down a job. Clem’s father, in contrast, had steadywork throughout his life, first as a lumberyard manager, thenas an accountant for a furniture company, later for a railroad.

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Reagan was raised a Protestant, because his mother was adevout member of the United Church of Christ. Clem wasraised a Roman Catholic, because his father’s own IrishCatholic faith was re-enforced by his own mother’s GermanCatholic faith.

He had been born in the small Eastern Washington townof Douglas in 1907, where his father worked as a lumberyardmanager. They moved to Pocatello in the late 1910’s, wherehis father landed a job as an accountant for a furniturecompany.

In the Christmas season of 1929 Clement James Sheeranstood proudly at the altar of his church in Pocatello, Idahowaiting for his nineteen year old bride to walk down theaisle.7a

He was twenty-two years old, and was already the devoutCatholic he would remain the rest of his life. His bride to be,Helen Louise Gower, had been born in Wisconsin, where herparents had allowed her grandmother, a Mormon, to raiseher. In later years she would never talk of her upbringing, buther children had the impression that her parents didn’t havemuch time for her, thought she was rather a nuisance. 8

She had been taken by storm when she met her confidentand convivial husband to be. Earlier in the year, he had wonthe Idaho Amateur State Tennis Championship, and sheloved to watch him move gracefully on the court.9 Hischaracter and devout faith moved her, and when he asked herto marry him, she had no problem converting to his RomanCatholic religion.

Sally Heath recalls her father’s character with great loveand affection:

He was very industrious, certainly hard working and a verygood man. I’ve never known a man so honest as he was. Hewas very intelligent and very very fair

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He was unbiased. He never prejudged any body aboutanything. He was extremely generous, and a great musician andsinger.10

Ronald Reagan would have fit right into the Sheeran-Gower wedding party that day, only a year younger than thebride, but comfortable with the culture and the families. Thetwo men were similar, classically Irish-American in theiroptimism, ambitious for the future, ready to take it onsquarely and see where it lead. Clem had graduated fromPocatello High School in 1926, and worked in sales for anelectrical company.11 Despite the stock market crash twomonths earlier, Clem was optimistic he would continue tosucceed in sales. Reagan was in his sophomore year at DixonIllinois’ small Eureka College.

Youngest son Mike recalls that his mother never talkedmuch about her early years, except to say that her parents hadno particular religious affiliation, and that the grandmotherwho raised her was Mormon.12 When she met and marriedClem, it was as a Roman Catholic, a faith which she readilyaccepted. It would have been hard not to, given the centralrole it played in her new husband’s life.

Clem Sheeran never graduated from college, but as hisson Mike later recalled, “he had enough college credits from anumber of different schools to earn fifteen degrees.” 11 Sometime after his marriage, he got a job with the InternalRevenue Service, and worked there until 1943, when he wasgiven a chance to be one of the first employee relationsmanagers at the new Hanford nuclear plant in the Richland,Washington area.

Son Mike recalled with amusement his father’s job withthe Internal Revenue Service:

His knowledge of labor law would become his strength.He knew more about labor law than anyone. He was a real

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expert. It was his arbitration skills, his ability to work withpeople on all sides of a question. As an accountant, sometimesI wondered if he could add two and two! 13

When the offer to work as an employee relations managercame up, Clem did not hesitate to accept. It meant moremoney, and with three growing children and one on the way,he was all in favor of more money. Besides, it was animportant job for the country. The outcome of World War IIstill hung in the balance.

The Hanford Nuclear Plant, which was then known asthe Hanford Engineering Works, was a critical part of thesecret Manhattan Project, a place to produce the plutoniumnecessary for the nuclear weapons that would bring about theend of World War II two years later. It was a massivegovernment project, managed by the Army, with theconstruction of the nuclear plants contracted to chemicalmanufacturing giant DuPont.

After an extensive search, the Army selected a remotearea of eastern Washington with access to free flowing riverwater and lots of open space to build their facilities. Fiftythousand construction workers were brought in to build theplants. They lived in a gigantic set of tent cities, while theengineers and the managers lived in the small nearby town ofRichland. 14

As construction neared an end in early 1943, the FederalGovernment realized that it needed skilled employee relationmanagers to handle the administrative details of thethousands of production workers that would operate theplants, as well as the engineers. Word went out to FederalGovernment employees in the west, and Clem Sheeranapplied for the job. With a solid record of fourteen years ofperformance at the Internal Revenue Service, and a clear andimpending need, he got the job. 15

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It was a nuclear age boomtown in the west, but withoutthe wide-open lack of controls of Deadwood City and otherfree enterprise mining towns. The mission was vital, and theengineers and administrators were family oriented. It was atightly controlled community, one that very few Americansknew much about at the time.

It was a perfect place for the Sheeran family. Theycontracted for the construction of a new house, choosingfrom one of twenty models approved by the Government. Itwas finished in the fall of 1943, and the Sheerans moved in totheir new home at 943 Long Avenue. Clem and Helen wouldraise all their children in this house, and would remain therefor the rest of their lives, Helen living until 1989, Clem until1992.16

Careful attention had been paid to the layout of theemerging city, and the street name paid tribute to theengineers who were the brains behind the HanfordEngineering Works, as well as noted engineers in Americanhistory. The street on which the Sheerans lived was namedafter US Army Corps of Engineers Stephen Harriman Longwho surveyed the American West in the early nineteenthcentury, and later become chief engineer of the Western andAtlantic Railroad.17

Local construction companies, approved by the FederalGovernment, were building like mad, knocking out over onehundred houses a month for the city that was growing up onland that had been nothing but pasture mere months ago.

Everything was new, even the Roman Catholic Churchthey attended, Christ the King. When the government set upthe plant, they relocated 1,500 residents of the small towns ofRichland, Hanford and White Bluff, using the power ofeminent domain.

Father Sweeney, the Catholic priest at the smallKennewick parish whose church, the Lady of Rosary inWhite Bluffs, was given special clearance by the Federal

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Government to continue to hold mass there. 17 He received asecurity clearance as well as a badge in order to have access tothe area. He had to show his badge every time he entered thenow restricted zone where his church was located.

Father Sweeney began saying mass for the Catholicsamong the fifty thousand construction workers at the Lady ofthe Rosary Building in July of that year, but it soon provedtoo small to accommodate the demand. In August,

Catholic services were transferred . . . from White Bluffsto a small white tent at the construction workers camp beingbuilt at the old town of Hanford. The tent could seat onlyabout 150 people. As the congregation continued to growrapidly, a section was added to the tent.

In October 1943, a much larger tent was provided forservices, which was used as a theater for the workers onweekdays. Mass was also celebrated t the Grange Hall inRichland. . . . In June 1944, church services were moved againinto a newly constructed large auditorium and theater in theHanford construction camp as the congregation attendingchurch had grown to more than 1500. 18

But there were too many Roman Catholics among thefifty thousand construction workers to be accommodated bythe tents, so Father Sweeney received permission to build anew church.

First, though, large tents were pitched to accommodatethe demand for Sunday services.

These were the circumstances in which the Sheeranfamily arrived. Clem was thirty six years old, his wife Helenwas thirty-three. Oldest son Pat was twelve, Colleen was five,Sarah Palin’s future mother Sally was three, and Helen waspregnant with Katie.

At the peak of construction at the nuclear facilities, therewere more than 50,000 people housed at the Hanford site. The

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last Mass in the new auditorium was held in February 1945, asa new church for Catholics had been completed in Richland.Mass in the new church was celebrated for the first time onChristmas of 1944.

The church was blessed on February 11, 1945 by BishopCharles White and dedicated to our Lord under the title ofChrist the King. 19

On Christmas Eve, 1944, four days after his fifteenthwedding anniversary, Clem Sheeran drove his wife and fourchildren, 13 year old Pat, six year old Colleen, four year oldSally, and one year old Katie to the first service at Christ theKing Church. Mass was celebrated that evening by FatherSweeney, another Catholic who shared his Irish heritage.

It was the same Latin liturgy interspersed with Englishlanguage delivery of the Epistle of Paul and the Gospel hehad known his entire life, in the parish churches he hadknown in Pocatello and Douglas. This “Tridentine” form ofmass, where the celebrating priest faced an altar for most ofthe mass, showing his back, rather than his face to thecongregation had been the standard form of celebration inthe Catholic Church since the late 1580’s. 20

It was a mass his father had known as a child inMinnesota, his grandfather had known as a child in Vermont,and his great-grandfather had known as a child in Ireland.Indeed, he could have gone back another ten generations inhis own family, transported his ancestors across time fromtheir small seventeenth century village church in Galway orDonegal County in Ireland, and they would have been asfamiliar with the Latin responses required of them as he was.There was something about that knowledge of constancy ofliturgy that gave many Catholics of the day great comfort.

Clem plunged into his employee relations work atHanford, and continued his lifelong participation in athletics.He was a high school football referee, a part time job hewould hold for the next four decades. In addition, he became

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one of the top experts on labor relations and arbitration inthe area, respected enough to teach labor law in the eveningsat Columbia Basin College.21

As Sally grew up, she and her siblings attended the nearbypublic schools, no parochial school being available. Olderbrother Pat, nine years older than Sally, graduated fromColumbia High in 1948, then went off to the University ofPortland, a Catholic school, for his undergraduate studies,and Gonzaga University in Spokane for law school.

Daughter Katie recalls her father’s devotion to theCatholic religion:

Whenever we went on vacation, the first thing Dad didwas look for a Catholic Church. “Even though it’s vacation,you still have to go to church on Sunday,” he said.22

Like all good Irish Catholics of that day and time, theSheerans attended mass every Sunday at Christ the KingRoman Catholic Church in Richland. Sally’s father Clem wasespecially devout, attending mass every day. It was a disciplinehe had picked up from both his parents, who presumably hadpicked it up from her mother in turn.23

Clem would have sent his children to a parochial school,but none was available in the area at the time. Later, he wouldbe a prominent fundraiser in the efforts to build a parochialschool, which opened in September of 1954, just in time forhis youngest son Mike to start the first grade there.

The church building and its 11-acre site were purchasedfrom the government in 1954. The change in ownershipenabled the parish to begin plans for new constructionprojects.

Early in 1954, a fund drive was initiated to finance theconstruction of an elementary school and a convent. InSeptember, classes were started in the first three grades in thepartially completed school. 24

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The six Sheeran children dutifully attended catechismlessons provided by the Christ the King Church’s nuns inspecial Saturday classes.

The nuns taught using the Baltimore Catechism, thestandard text of Catholic Doctrine that had been in placesince 1885 in the United States.25

A catechism is organized in a series of question andanswer based lessons, taught by a catechist, most often apriest, or a nun, or a properly trained lay person. In that area,it was often a rote, singsong response, where studentsmemorized responses.

Every Catholic school and church in America used theBaltimore Catechism. It had thirty-seven lessons, eachcontaining between ten and twenty unique questions andanswers. All told, there were four hundred and twenty onequestions and answers. 26

Lesson One included twelve of these questions andanswers, the first six of which Christians of everydenomination would agree form the beginning basis of faith:

1. Q. Who made the world?A. God made the world.

2. Q. Who is God?A. God is the Creator of heaven and earth, and of allthings.

3. Q. What is man?A. Man is a creature composed of body and soul, andmade to the image and likeness of God.

4. Q. Is this likeness in the body or in the soul?A. This likeness is chiefly in the soul.

5. Q. How is the soul like to God?A. The soul is like God because it is a spirit that will neverdie, and has understanding and free will.

6. Q. Why did God make you?

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A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serveHim in this world, and to be happy with Him forever inthe next. 27

It was the same catechism that her daughter Sarah wouldlearn more than two decades later in Skagway, Alaska. Theseearly lessons in God’s role in creating the world would stickwith her, and form the basis for one political controversysurrounding the evolution-creationism education issue in the2008 Presidential election.

Like her brother and sister before her, and her sisters andbrother after her, Sally made her first communion at the ageof six in 1946, and was confirmed at the age of ten in 1950.

In the spring of 1959, Sally Sheeran was a nineteen yearold freshman transfer student at Columbia Basin College inPasco.28 She had graduated from her home town high school,Columbia High the previous spring, spent a semester atWashington State in Pullman, and then come back home forthe spring semester.

Chuck Heath was a twenty-one year old sophomore, onesemester away from graduating with his Associates Degree,bound for another two years to finish up at EasternWashington.

They met in a science lab. Chuck recalls the meeting:

We had this science class together where the exercise wasyou had to take blood out of the other person. You know, itwas just a pin prick. And they assisgned us partners. And Sallywas my partner. So that’s how we met.29

Sally’s own deep Catholic faith contrasted with Chuck’srelative indifference to spiritual matters. It wasn’t that he wasagainst religion in particular—he was known to attend churchon occasion—it was more that his passion was found insports in general, and the outdoor life in particular

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Born in Los Angeles, California in 1938 to a UCLAgraduate school teaching mother and a Chicago born freelance photographer, 30 Chuck moved with his parents to tinyHope, Idaho in 1948.31 His parents had been drawn to theremote community at the tip of Northern Idaho because ofthe outdoors life and the fishing. His father, Charles F. Heath,or “Charlie” to most everyone he knew, loved fishing somuch he eventually started his own little lure company. Hisparents were in their late forties when they left Los Angelesfor Idaho, “the first of many that would come over the nextseveral decades” according to childhood friend KermitKeiver.32 Keiver remembers Chuck’s father fondly:

“He was a very gregarious fellow, kind of short androtund, and very pleasant to be around. He wore a distinctivecap with a bill, and when he wasn’t driving the school bus forthe kids that went to the local elementary school, you couldoften see him smoking a “cee-gar”. 33

Chuck’s mother, Nellie Marie Brandt, taught elementaryschool in Hope. It was a small school, with little more thanone hundred students in grades one through eight. There hadbeen a high school there once, but by the time the Heathsarrived, all the Hope kids went up to Sandpoint, ten miles tothe west, for high school.

Chuck had one sibling, an older sister, Carol, who wasborn in 1936, but he spent most of his time in the outdoorswith his buddies from Hope. Keiver remembers some oftheir adventures.

Oh, we would occasionally tip over an outhouse, but mostof the time we were just hunting and fishing. I remember somegreat times just being outside, drinking apple cider in the fall,just enjoying life. Chuck just loved the outdoors. He and hisfamily just fit right in perfectly with our Northern Idahocommunity. 34

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Keiver remembers walking down the street to go to hisfriend Chuck’s house.

Chuck was four years older than me, but we all palledaround together. I remember going into his house, and seeingthe special room his father Charlie had set up to display thephotographs of his Hollywood days. There were all sorts ofmovies stars on the wall, in photos Charlie had taken. I don’tremember if there was a picture of Ronald Reagan, but itwouldn’t surprise me if there was.35

More than half a century later, the Heath family’sconnection to Ronald Reagan would become apparent to theentire nation in an electrifying speech given by CharlieHeath’s granddaughter, televised to over 37 millionAmericans.36

Chuck started Sandpoint High School as a freshman inthe fall of 1951. He had his eye on one goal—he wanted tomake the Sandpoint High School football team coached bythe legendary Cotton Barlow.

Cotton Barlow not only created the "Barlow Era" but alsocoached throughout the "Golden Age" of Sandpoint HighSchool football, a time filled with great records and undefeatedseasons. He was a well-known, well-respected basketball andfootball coach at the high school from the years 1946-1962 and1973-1978.

During his tenure at the high school Barlow built up anamazing record in football. During the 1961 season Barlow notonly coached his 100th game for SHS but also led his team toan undefeated season at 8-0-1. Barlow was a great coach and awell respected by his team and throughout the community.

"He was a Southern gentleman," Hamilton said. "He madeplayers work hard and liked to build self respect in hisathletes."

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Barlow was known for giving players a chance, regardlessof their age. His players will remember him for years to come.

"Cotton Barlow was a legend, the type of guy you wantedto play for," DeMers said, who played on Barlow's team. "Theway he treated you, he never yelled but always motivated us." 37

Barlow was well known for his memorable quotes. Onethat has survived him is this:

If you think people are gonna miss you, go put your footin a bucket of water. The hole you leave when you pull yourfoot out is as long as we will miss you.38

Chuck turned out to be good enough to make the team asa freshman, and got several snaps in the varsity games thatyear as a running back. One of his blockers was a big toughjunior named Jerry Kramer. “I liked playing with Jerry,”Chuck recalls. “He opened really big holes for me!”.38a

Kramer would go on to star at the University of Idaho,then play nine years under Coach Vince Lombardi for theGreen Bay Packers. He was an NFL All-Pro four times, andstarted on 5 NFL championship teams and two Super Bowlchampionship teams.

He’s most famous for the game ending block that openedthe hole for Bart Star’s quarterback sneak touchdown in theclosing seconds victory against Dallas in the famous 1967“Ice Bowl” victory. He later recounted that season with abest-selling book he co-authored with sports journalist DickSchaap, Instant Replay.

Chuck remembers Barlow as a tremendous coach, one onwhom we based his own coaching style:

Barlow was the most motivational coach I've ever known.We won because he said we would. I played all four years underhim, and if I remember correctly, we lost only 4 games in thoseyears. Opponents who were bigger, faster, more experienced

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couldn't intimidate us because Coach Barlow "brainwashed" usinto thinking we could win, and we usually did.

[When I returned to coach at Sandpoint]I didn't have theprivilege of coaching directly with Barlow, but did with hisassistant Francis McDonald (who was our son Chuck'sgodfather). I used Barlow's style as much as possible over theyears in order to inspire and motivate the athletes.

Barlow never forgot his athletes; he would often mentionplays from years earlier with such clarity.39

A year after Kramer graduated, Chuck became a regularstarter for his remaining two years in high school. Once in hisjunior year, a scheduling mixup occurred, with Sandpointscheduled to play two different teams at two differentlocations.

Barlow split the squad and played Bonners Ferry in theafternoon and Coeur d'Alene the same night, winning bothgames.40

Chuck, however, was sick in bed, and couldn’t play ineither game:

I had to miss the phenomenal two games played in one daywhen I was home in bed with what was feared to be scarletfever..41

Chuck graduated from Sandpoint High School in 1956.Uncertain of his path, he enrolled in the Army in a special sixmonth active duty, six years reserve duty program. He did hisbasic training at Fort Ord in California, then finished hisactive duty at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri as part of aCombat Engineers Division.

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He valued his Army experience greatly. “You know,” hesaid later “if I hadn’t gone to the Army, I probably wouldn’thave made it through college. I just wasn’t ready out of highschool. I did some odd jobs, working lumber and the like, butthe Army really prepared me. After the Army, college waseasy.”

In the fall of 1957, his active Army duty behind him,Chuck enrolled at the Columbia Basin College in Pasco,Washington, one hundred and fifty miles east of his hometown. He had a scholarship to play football, and he excelledas a defensive back there until he separated his shoulder,effectively ending his career.

He liked the idea of playing football there, and studyinglife sciences. He thought becoming a teacher like his motherwould allow him to use his passion for the outdoors as a wayto make a living, while having some extra time for huntingand fishing. He was part of the first group of kids to leaveHope and get a college education42

Childhood friend Keiver could not recall Chuck’sreligious affiliation.

If it was Sunday, and the choice was to go out and huntdeer so you could have venison for dinner, or go to church,there was no doubt what Chuck was going to do. It was thedeer that had to worry, not the folks in the church.43

The only clue as to the family’s religious affilation at thattime came when Chuck’s mother passed away in 1988. Theobituary in the local paper said there would be no services,but contributions could be made to the Sandpoint FirstChurch of Christ Scientist.

At the end of spring semester 1959, Chuck received hisAssociates degree from Columbia Basin College. He headedup to Eastern Washington State University to finish up hislast two years of college, and Sally followed, getting a job in

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nearby Spokane. Shortly after his graduation in 1961 theywere married in Sandpoint, Idaho, where he had graduatedfrom high school. Chuck had a job lined up there as a teacherof middle school science at Sandpoint’s public junior highschool.

Bill Adams, who still lives in Sandpoint, remembersChuck Heath and his family well. They taught together atSandpoint for two years, and were often found hunting andfishing.

He took me under his wing. I was a town kid fromMontana. He said, ‘We’re going to teach you the Idaho way.”Then the call of the wild got to him.44

As was the custom in those days, Chuck agreed that alltheir children would be raised and baptized in the Catholicreligion. True to his word, when their first son Chuck Juniorwas born in 1962, he was baptized at St. Joseph’s RomanCatholic Church in Sandpoint, and a year later daughterHeather was baptized in the same church.45

When Sarah was born on February 11, 1964, however,she was not baptized there. Changes were afoot in the youngHeath family, and preparations were being made to relocatethe entire crew to Alaska.

Childhood friend Keiver commented on Chuck’swanderlust:

Chuck wanted to experience the hunting and fishingopportunities that Alaska offered. Northern Idaho had beengreat, but it was more civilized than Alaska, and Chuck wantedthe true frontier experience. 46

Demonstrating the degree to which the two were wellmatched, Sally was all for the idea. She was not yet an avidhunter and fisher like her husband, but she was ready for theadventure. She would cook and eat anything he hunted or

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fished, she vowed. “If I can put catchup on it, I can eat it,”she told her older sister Colleen before they left for Alaska.47

Her parents were less than excited about the idea.Though they liked their son-in-law Chuck immensely, thegreat frontier of Alaska seemed too remote for them. Herfather Clem told all her siblings his true feelings about theadventure.

Bring that girl back and put her on the golf course whereshe belongs ! 48

But the golf courses of Idaho and eastern Washingtonwere no longer for her, except on vacations. Now, it was timefor the wilds of Alasaka.

Though Sally was still a practicing Catholic, one by oneher siblings began slipping away from the church. Older sisterColleen had decided to get married that year, and along withher husband had decided against a church wedding. Theyweren’t practicing Catholics any more, so what was the point?They thought.

Colleen broke the news the her father.“Dad, we’re getting married in Reno, and it’s not going to

be in the church.”Her father was silent, but she knew it was hard for him.The next day, when she got off the bus from her work at

the Hanford plant, he was there, waiting for her.They drove to the parking lot of the Christ the King

Church.“I’m not going to try to persuade you, Colleen,” he said.

“I’m only going to ask that you and Ron talk to FatherSweeney before you get married.” 49

Colleen agreed. When she and Ron met with FatherSweeney, Ron and Father Sweeney hit it off. But it made nodifference. Neither she nor Ron were Catholics anymore, anda civil ceremony in Reno it would be.

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Colleen was the first of Clem Sheeran’s children to leavethe church, but not the last. Of the six Sheeran children, onlyoldest son Pat, who became an attorney and died in 1992,would remain a member of the church throughout his life.

In the late spring of 1964, Sally Heath was still a memberof the Roman Catholic Church. Her own faith journey wasless of a priority at the time than the logistics of getting heryoung family ready for the move to Alaska.

Chuck had lined up a job teaching elementary school atSkagway City School, which had about one hundred studentsin grades one through eight. So finding employment wasn’tthe problem for the Heath family. Getting everyone there inone piece with the right clothing and equipment was, andmuch of that task fell to Sally.

“How do you prepare for a move to Alaska?” shewondered. As soon as she got back from the hospital withher newborn baby Sarah, she began organizing the house forthe trip.

After school let out in May, the Heath family packed alltheir worldly goods into the modest family car, closed downtheir rental house, and drove east one hundred and fifty milesto Richland, Washington for a farewell gathering with Sally’sfamily.

They spent two weeks in Richland, long enough to haveSarah baptized on June 7, 1964 at Christ the King RomanCatholic Church. Sally’s older brother Pat Sheeran, now ajudge and lawyer in Richland, and his wife Marjorie acted asSarah’s godparents.50

The plan was to pack it up the family car with as much asthey could, leaving room for Chuck in the driver’s seat,herself, and the three small children. They planned on drivingnorth and slightly east, crossing the border into Canada andthe province of Alberta. Moving north, first through Calgarythen through Alberta, they would veer to the northwest asthey entered British Columbia, where they would pick up the

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Alaska Highway, completed only two decades earlier. Thatroad would take them all the way to the Alaska border, andfrom there, it was less than one hundred winding miles to thesmall port city of Skagway.

All told, the trip would be almost 1,900 miles, and theyplanned on doing it in ten days, staying at inexpensive motelsor camping along the way.

Sarah’s baptism provided an opportunity to say good byeto Sally’s parents and siblings, all of whom planned onstaying in the lower 48. Sally promised to come back once ayear during spring break to visit, a promise that she kept forthe next four decades. 51

The children were too young to have an understanding ofthe importance of the move, but Chuck’s enthusiasm for theadventure was contagious. Sally soon was just as excited as hewas, even though on first glance it might appear that he wasgoing to have all the fun—hunting and fishing in a year roundsportsman’s wilderness—while she was going to have all thework—taking care of three children all under the age of threein an environment where even the most basic aspects of dailylife were often difficult to accomplish.

In early June a few days after Sarah’s baptism, the Heathfamily said their good-byes to their family in Richland,climbed into the family car, and pulled out of Clem andHelen Sheeran’s residence at 943 Long Avenue. Chuck turnedthe car north, and they never looked back

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Counterpoint—Barack Obama

January 1957-21 year old Barack Obama Senior marries 18 year old Keziain a tribal ceremony in a village in Kenya. As a dowry, Barack ObamaSenior’s father gives Kezia’s father fourteen cows.1958—Half-brother Roy Obama, first child of Barack Obama Senior, bornto Kezia.June 1959-Barack Obama Senior is accepted at the University of Hawaii,and is named as one of the first eighty-one Kenyans to receive a Tom Mboyascholarship. The funds in his case apparently are for his flight. Tuition andexpenses at the University of Hawaii are paid by a white Kenyan, Ella Kirk,either directly, or indirectly as a directed contribution to the Tom MboyaScholarship. Barack Obama Senior’s wife Kezia is three months pregnant.Summer 1959—Barack Obama Senior flies from Nairobi, Kenya toHonolulu Hawaii. The flight is paid for by the Tom Mboya Scholarship,established with 8,000 donations from Americans, including Harry Belafonte,Sidney Poitier, and Jackie Robinson.September 1959- Barack Obama Senior enrolls at the University ofHawaii’s undergraduate program in math and economics.Spring 1960—17 year old Stanley Ann Dunham, a senior at MercerIsland High School, is accepted at the University of Chicago, but her fatherdoes not allow her to attend.Around 1960—Half-sister Auma Obama, second child of Barack ObamaSenior, born to Kezia in Kenya.June 1960- 17 year old Stanley Ann Dunham graduates from Mercer IslandHigh School, a suburb of Seattle, WashingtonJune 1960—One week after graduating from high school, Stanley AnnDunham moves with her father, Stanley Dunham, and her mother, MadelynDunham to Honolulu, Hawaii where he goes to work for a furniture store.

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September 1960 –17 year old Stanley Ann Dunham meets BarackObama Senior in the Basic Russian Class taught at the University ofHawaii, probably by Ella Wiswold.November 1 to 8 1960- 17 year old Stanley Ann Dunham and BarackObama Hussein conceive Barack Obama, Jr., probably in his dorm room onthe campus of the University of Hawaii.February 2, 1961-The date of the civil marriage ceremony between 18 yearold Stanley Ann Dunham and 25 year old Barack Hussein Obama, as statedin Stanley Ann Dunham’s January 1964 divorce court filings. No one attendsthe wedding, which is said to be held on the island of Maui. If a legal marriagewas performed, records of the marriage certificate should exist in the State ofHawaii’s Vital Records Department. Only family members can request suchrecords, and to date, no such record has been produced. In 1961, February 2fell on a Thursday.Spring and Summer 1961—Stanley Ann Dunham apparently continuesto live with her parents. Barack Obama Senior apparently continues to live inhis dorm room.August 4, 1961 – Barack Hussein Obama II is born in Honolulu, Hawaiiat 7:52 PM, according to a Certificate of Live Birth posted on the BarackObama fight the smear website. There are questions as to the authenticity ofthis document, and whether it is an original, or a duplicate created later.Stanley Ann Dunham is listed as his mother’s maiden name, Barack HusseinObama is listed as the father. Barack Obama Senior is probably not present atthe birthAround August 28, 1961—Stanley Ann Dunham, with 3 week old sonBarack Obama Junior, flies to Seattle Washington, where she spends a full dayon Mercer Island visiting with her high school friend Susan Blake. Dunhamtells Blake she is on her way to Boston to join her husband who she says isstudying at Harvard. She plans on getting a job, raising her baby, and attendschool. Blake describes her as “nuts about Barack Obama, wildly in love withhim, excited about returning to Kenya with him.” She goes by the name AnnObama.Around first week of September, 1961- High school classmateMaxine Box spends an hour with her friend Stanley Ann Dunham at theresidence of a friend in Mercer Island where she was staying. Maxine recallsshe was on her way to see her husband, does not recall where. The conversationwas mostly about the baby, Barack Obama Junior. She never saw or talkedwith Stanley Ann Dunham again.

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August 1961-March 1962—Stanley Dunham Obama enrolls in fourextensions courses at the University of Washington during the Fall 1961 andWinter 1962 Quarters. She earns 20 credits towards graduation. 18 year oldAnn Dunham visits her friends in Seattle, Washington with month old babyBarack. Her living arrangements are uncertain. It’s not known how manytimes she flies back and forth between Honolulu and Seattle, but it’s at leastonce, if not more.September 1961—Barack Obama Senior enrolls in his third and finalyear at the University of Hawaii. He moves out of his dorm room and leasesa one floor house near campus, where Ann and one month old Barack live withhim, for a period of time.Spring 1962—Barack Obama Senior continues to reside in Honolulu,where he is in the last semester of his undergraduate studies. He is accepted atHarvard University’s Phd. progam in Economics and the New School in NewYork.March 1962—19 year old Stanley Ann Dunham moves to Seattle andenrolls at the University of Washington using the name Stanley DunhamObama with her seven month old baby Barack Obama, Jr. She attends classes,which she completes and receives 10 credit for. Friends remember visiting herand her baby Barack. She lives in an apartment on Capitol Hill.May 1962- Ella Kirk writes to the Tom Mboya Fund, asking them to payfor Barack Obama’s graduate study, preferably at Harvard.June 1962—Stanley Ann Dunham completes her spring quarter classes atUniversity of Washington. She registers as Stanley Dunham Obama. Sheearns 10 credits. 15 credits are a full load. 180 credits required to graduate.June 22 1962—Barack Obama graduates from the University of Hawaii.A Honolulu Star-Bulletin article on the same day makes no mention of hiswife Stanley Ann Dunham or their child Barack Obama Junior. Stanley AnnDunham probably does not attend ceremonies, still in Washington completingher classes.June 23, 1962—Barack Obama Senior leaves Honolulu for a grand tour ofmainland universities Harvard.Late June, 1962—Barack Obama Senior has dinner with University ofHawaii classmate Hal Abercrombie and his wife in San Francisco, as part ofhis grand tour of American universities on his way to Harvard.July 1962-September 1962—High school classmate Barbara CannonRusk visits Stanley Ann Dunham at her apartment on Capitol Hill inSeattle, Washington. Rusk recalls that Ann was “melancholy” had the feeling

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the “something wasn’t right” about the marriage. She recalls that BarackObama Senior was already at Harvard.Around September 1962—Stanley Ann Dunham returns to Hawaiiwith Barack Obama Junior.. She lives with her parents and attends theUniversity of Hawaii on a part time basis.September 1962—Barack Obama Senior enrolls at Harvard University,where he takes up with another white woman, Ruth Nidesand.January 1964—Stanley Ann Dunham divorces Barack Obama Senior.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF IRISH CATHOLIC ROOTS

Columbia High School Yearbook, The Columbian 1958. Senior Picture of Sarah “Sally Sheeran” , second row from the

bottom, second picture from the right

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The Christ the King Roman Catholic Church building, where FatherSweeney celebrated the first mass on Christmas Eve, 1944, with the

Sheeran family in attendance.

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The Columbian Yearbook, 1958. Sarah “Sally” Sheeran is in thesecond row, second from left.

Construction workers lining up for paychecks atHanford Engineering Works, 1943.

The Columbian Yearbook, 1958. Catholic Youth Organization.Sarah “Sally” Sheeran is in the back row, far left.

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Hi-spot teenage club in Richland, Washington. Picture circa 1946

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House models available to Hanford Engineering Worksadministrators and engineers, 1940s.

1956 picture of dancers at the Hi-Spot. The girl in the picture is notSarah “Sally” Heath.

The Spudnut Donut Shop, one of Clem Sheeran’s favorite hangouts.

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By’s Burgers, a popular hangout for Richland teenagers in the 1950s.