SJR 23: Expressing the support of the Alaska State Legislature for naming the mountain between Cedar Ridge and Hope Peak south of Anchorage after Gail Phillips.
00 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 23 01 Expressing the support of the Alaska State Legislature for naming the mountain 02 between Cedar Ridge and Hope Peak south of Anchorage after Gail Phillips. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS Gail Phillips was born in Juneau, spent her early years in a mining camp 05 at Council, graduated from Nome High School, and went on to receive a bachelor's degree 06 from the University of Alaska Fairbanks; and 07 WHEREAS, following her education, Gail Phillips worked for over a decade in state 08 aviation, taught high school business courses in Nome, owned and operated a store in Homer 09 and a family placer mine on the Seward Peninsula, became secretary of the board of the newly 10 formed Iditarod Trail Committee, and served the Iditarod as an unpaid race coordinator for 11 years; and 12 WHEREAS Gail Phillips served as the head of the Homer Chamber of Commerce, on 13 the Homer City Council, on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly, and as legislative 14 committee chair of the Alaska Municipal League before being elected to the Alaska House of 15 Representatives; and 16 WHEREAS, in the Alaska House of Representatives, Gail Phillips was instrumental
01 in forming a bipartisan coalition, was selected in her second term of office as House Majority 02 Leader, and was then elected as Speaker of the House for two consecutive terms; and 03 WHEREAS, following her retirement from the Alaska House of Representatives, Gail 04 Phillips served for several years as executive director of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee 05 Council, engaged in countless forms of public service, spent her free time mentoring potential 06 office seekers and working for responsible natural resource development, and at the time of 07 her death was serving on the boards of the Iditarod Trail Race Foundation and the Alaska 08 Aviation Museum; and 09 WHEREAS the mountain between Cedar Ridge and Hope Peak south of Anchorage 10 is without a name; is located north of the community of Hope, an area rich in Alaska history 11 and natural resources, which were two of Gail Phillips's lifelong passions; is in the Kenai 12 Peninsula Borough, an area Gail Phillips served for many years; and its stately silhouette is 13 clearly visible from Gail Phillips's family home; 14 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature recognizes that Gail Phillips 15 made significant contributions to the state and that her life of public service merits naming the 16 mountain between Cedar Ridge and Hope Peak south of Anchorage as Gail Phillips Peak. 17 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Alaska Historical Commission; the 18 Domestic Names Committee, United States Board on Geographic Names; and the Honorable 19 Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don 20 Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.