WYOMING — Gov. Mark Gordon has ordered both the U.S. and Wyoming flags to be lowered to half-staff on Monday, Nov. 3, from sunrise to sunset in honor of former Wyoming Secretary of State Kathy Karpan, who died on Oct. 24. She was 83.
“Jennie and I were saddened to hear the news of the passing of Kathy Karpan, a long-time public servant,” Gordon said in a statement. “Kathy served as the Director of the Department of Health from 1984 to 1986 and as Wyoming’s Secretary of State from 1987 to 1995. She went on to serve as Director of the federal Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement from 1997 to 2001. The Gordon family extends our heartfelt condolences to the Karpan family.”
According to her obituary, Karpan grew up in Rock Springs and was inspired by John F. Kennedy to become politically engaged. The lifelong Democrat held degrees rom the University of Wyoming (where she majored in journalism and became the first woman editor of the student newspaper, the Branding Iron, before returning for a master’s in American studies) and the University of Oregon’s School of Law. She worked as a journalist at the Cody Enterprise, the Wyoming Eagle and the Canberra Times in Australia before focusing on politics and law.
