Virginia Schmidt

The 13-months-older brother of the “no two brothers were ever closer” pair — Pete Simpson — presented the last speech at the March 31 Celebration of Life for his younger brother and real-life Wyoming legend, Al Simpson. Pete credited their mother, Lorna Simpson, for the brothers’ legendary closeness of 93 years, citing stories — including the Arthurian legends — she read them as children to encourage courageous and undyingly loyal camaraderie.  

It strikes me that Al Simpson truly represents a King Arthur character for the kingdom of Camelot that is our state of Wyoming. Myself being born and raised in Al’s hometown of Cody, he indeed holds the archetypal position of a legendary — almost to the point of being mythical — king in my own psyche, and I feel in the hearts of fellow Wyomingites young and old, no matter what political views we hold. 

For if the timeless character of a true king is defined by the people’s ability to trust him unconditionally — even if they disagree with him — then Al embodied exactly that. As evidenced in another story Pete shared during his speech, in which a liberal-leaning friend watched Al speak for a good while on television about some policy or other. Afterwards, the man told Pete, “I didn’t agree with a single thing he said. Not one. But you know, it’s the funniest thing — I trust him.” 

Trustworthiness goes both ways: We are able to trust someone because we know they trust and value us as equals. As their mother hoped, Al and Pete's brotherly love is and was a living representation of Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table philosophy. Sitting together at a round table signifies equality, a seat at the table for everyone and everyone having a voice. 

No matter how high he rose, becoming an esteemed three-term U.S. senator, a Harvard faculty member and a dear friend and adviser to multiple U.S. presidents among other accomplishments, Al truly let every person he met know they were a beloved friend whose voice and story he cared to hear, who always would have a seat at his (round) table. 

And of course, Al possessed his very own Excalibur: His humor. During his Celebration of Life, Al’s son Colin Simpson mentioned how Al referred to his own sense of humor as “both his sword and his shield.” And just as in the Arthurian legends, in which Arthur receives Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake, Al received the gift of his signature sword from his mother. 

Lorna gifted her son with a saying by which he lived, a saying which graced the inside cover of the thick and rich pamphlet attendees received at the esteemed senator’s Celebration of Life. The page is filled with a timeless black-and-white photo of our dear Wyoming hometown hero Al Simpson, bald-headed and fancy-suited, skipping gleefully like a boy of 10 somewhere on the streets of Washington. Below him is printed his life motto, molded from his mother’s words: “Humor is the universal solvent against the abrasive elements of life.” 

And like Arthur with his Excalibur, it seemed that with his God-given humor, Al could not be defeated. With it he softened hard hearts, eased worried minds, opened countless doors, and dutifully served and uplifted every community of which he was a part. 

Of course Al Simpson stands as a legacy to and marker of democracy itself, and he led in a land where he was elected to (multiple times!) not given, the place of U.S. senator (and every other public office he held!). Yet I compare him to King Arthur because, to me — and I believe to many in our state — he represents the valiant values for which the idea of a good king stands: Love, equality, kindness, humility, integrity.

Indeed one of Al’s favorite sayings was: “If you have integrity, nothing else matters. And if you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.”

The kind of integrity Al Simpson lived as an example is the kind that creates a model for what good leadership truly is. He was a real-life hero, in my opinion, with a real-world influence harkening to that of the mythological (or, perhaps actual) King Arthur. With Al's passing, the end of an era of epic and noble leadership passes with him. And yet, it also opens the way for the future. 

For Arthur was known as “The Once and Future King.” Al Simpson, once the living embodiment of a true Wyoming leader, sets the stage, lights the way and beckons to who might next play the future figure who will lead with the kind of integrity that inspires everyone to ignite the same within themselves. 

(Editor’s note: This aims to be a column written in humble and respectful acknowledgement — a light “touch of the cap” with a little bow of the head — to those who embody the virtues and help show us the way of love, compassion, leadership and service.)