Untitled, photo by BryantDIGITAL

Yesterday (March 26th), former Michigan Governor William G. Milliken turned 88. I bumped into him a few weeks ago and he seemed in great health, so hopefully he has many more coming.

Several years ago, in The Very Best People in the Northern Express, Robert Downes wrote:

Raised on Washington Street in Traverse City, Bill Milliken was the longest-serving governor in the state’s history, occupying the office from 1969 to 1983.

Gov. Milliken is an honest-to-gosh war hero: He flew 50 combat missions in WWII as a waist-gunner in a B-24. He survived two crash landings; received a flak stomach wound on one mission; and once had to bail out in Italy when his plane ran out of fuel 50 miles from its base. He received seven medals for his service, according to “The Milliken Years” by Joyce Braithwaite and George Weeks.

Still considered one of the leaders of the moderate wing of the Republican Party, Governor Milliken’s administration saw many advancements in civil rights and environmental protections. The governor signed Michigan’s landmark bottle deposit law into effect in 1976 and it was during his tenure that the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore was created by an act of Congress in 1970. Although he hailed from Northern Michigan, Gov. Milliken recognized the importance of preserving the viability of the City of Detroit and refused to play into the “us vs. them” mentality of outstate politicians. As governor, he lobbied against members of his own party in the late ’70s for the Detroit People Mover, which was ultimately approved in a drastically limited form.

…Little known fact: The governor’s middle initial stands for Grawn, the family namesake of the crossroads between TC and Interlochen.

More in the William G. Milliken entry from Wikipedia.

Check this out bigger in Bryant’s slideshow.