Larry Seaquist


Larry Seaquist is an American politician, retired Navy captain, and academic who served as a member of the Washington House of Representatives from 2007 to 2015.

Early life and education

Seaquist was born September 7, 1938 In Idaho Falls, Idaho, the first of five children of Dorothy to Roger Seaquist, Seaquist lived on the family farm and attended Ammon Elementary School in Ammon, Idaho. After sharecropping on several farms in the area, his parent scraped together the down payment for a 100-acre farm outside Vale, Oregon. Graduating as class haledictorian from Vale High School in 1956, Seaquist attended Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, studying physics and meteorology. Seaquist dropped out of college in his junior year, working for a few months as a firefighter and ambulance driver for the Corvallis Fire Department. Seaquist later earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Oregon State in 1963.

Career

Arctic and Antarctic service

Hired by the of the National Weather Service, Seaquist began on his 21st birthday a year-long assignment as a weather observer at the Barter Island radar site of the Distant Early Warning Line. Living beside the indigenous village of Kaktovic, Alaska, Seaquist becoming a specialist in flying twice-daily radiosonde balloon probes of the atmosphere and reporting on ice and weather conditions.

Military

Seaquist served in the United States Navy from 1962 to 1994. He worked at the Pentagon and retired after serving as the captain of the. He commanded the Iowa from 25 April 1986 through 26 May 1988. He was renowned on USS Iowa at choosing an enlisted crew member each day, telling them to be on the bridge at 1800 hours and have a song ready which the crew member had to create. At 1800 hours, the Captain would announce "I'd like to introduce you to today's singing bosun mate, at which time the crew member had to sing over the ships 1MC announcement system to the entire crew. He served as a technical adviser for the 2001 film A Glimpse of Hell.

Politics

In 2007, Seaquist was elected to the Washington House of Representatives, representing Washington's 26th legislative district, which covers the Kitsap Peninsula from Bremerton and Port Orchard in the north to Gig Harbor in the south. In 2014, Seaquist lost his seat in a heated election to Michelle Caldier.

Later career

Since leaving the Washington House of Representatives, Seaquist has worked as a Political Science professor at the Evergreen State College, and speaks as an expert on national security and military issues.