I knew Hubert Humphrey since I was a kid. He was a family friend and we spent some time together fishing at a resort owned by some extended family members. Somewhere in my boxes of stuff from my childhood is an advertising poster for the resort with his signature and a brief note to me.

He had a love for the wild places and nature and that is where he went to recharge. He especially loved Minnesota for its pristine lakes and remote woods and reveled in his fellows' camaraderie in search of the lunker pike or bass. I have no doubt, had he been privy to current information surrounding climate change then, that he would have been one of the fiercest advocates for any measure with a promise of mitigating the damage we have done.

He was always a statesman, which detracted from his image as a warrior for the working class, but he never lost sight of the real struggle against the class manipulations and cruelty of the capitalists and their henchmen in office. He approached all debates with a smile that served as a forewarning to adversaries that they were facing someone possessing the confidence and determination of being on the right side of that struggle.