George S. Mickelson

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox officeholder George Speaker Mickelson (January 31, 1941Template:Spaced ndashApril 19, 1993) was an American politician and Vietnam War veteran who served as the 28th governor of South Dakota from 1987 until his death in 1993 in a plane crash near Zwingle, Iowa.

His father, George T. Mickelson, was also governor of South Dakota, from 1947 to 1951. To date, the Mickelsons are the only father-son duo to have held that office.<ref name="nytimes.com">Template:Cite news</ref> He is a member of the prominent Mickelson family of South Dakota.

Early life and education

Mickelson was born in Mobridge, South Dakota. His grandfather was a Norwegian immigrant.<ref>1910 Census, Walworth County, South Dakota</ref> His parents, George Theodore Mickelson and Madge Mickelson, were the Governor and First Lady of South Dakota from 1947 to 1951.

Mickelson graduated from the University of South Dakota with a bachelor's in business administration in 1963 and from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1965. He was a brother in Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity at USD. He served in the United States Army, including a tour of duty in Vietnam.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> He married Linda McCahren and they had three children, Amy, David and Mark.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Public service and plane crash

Mickelson served as South Dakota State Assistant Attorney General (1967–68) and South Dakota State Attorney, Brookings County (1971–74). First elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives in 1974, he held office there for six years, serving as Speaker for the final two years. Mickelson was elected governor in 1986 and reelected four years later. <ref name="nytimes.com"/>

On April 19, 1993, Mickelson was one of eight people aboard a state-owned airplane returning to South Dakota from a lobbying effort in Ohio. The plane, a Mitsubishi MU-2 turboprop, reported engine trouble while flying near Dubuque, Iowa, and crashed into a farm silo about four miles south of Zwingle.<ref name="telegraphherald.com">Template:Cite web</ref> Everyone on the plane was killed.<ref name="telegraphherald.com" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mickelson was succeeded as governor by then-Lieutenant Governor Walter Dale Miller.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Legacy

George S. Mickelson Middle School in Brookings is named after him, as is the George S. Mickelson Trail in the Black Hills and the George S. Mickelson Center for the Neurosciences in Yankton, South Dakota. The George S. Mickelson Education Center at Southeast Technical Institute in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was built in 1990. The George S. Mickelson Great Service Award is given out annually by the South Dakota Office of Tourism. His alma mater, the University of South Dakota, awards South Dakota students with high ACTs/SATs a full-tuition scholarship, known as the George S. Mickelson Scholarship. It is the university's most prestigious scholarship.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• George S. Mickelson Trail

External links

• George S. Mickelson Great Service Award
• Governor George S. Mickelson portrait
• New York Times Obituary: Governor George Mickelson 4/21/1993
• National Governors Association
• Dubuque, IA Area Governors Plane Crashes, Apr 1993 Template:Webarchive at GenDisasters.com
• Template:C-SPAN

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