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Friday, June 16, 2006
Falmouth soldier dies in Afghanistan
Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||
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Maine Army National Guard Capt. Patrick Damon, 41, who as a civilian worked as policy adviser to four speakers of the state House of Representatives, died Thursday in Bagram, Afghanistan, of an apparent heart attack. Damon was a member of the 240th Engineer Group and had been deployed in the war zone since April. He collapsed on his bunk after a run Thursday morning, said his wife, Hildi Halley of Falmouth. Friends and family commiserated with Halley and her two children, Mikayla, 14, and Jan-Christian, 12, after news of Damon's death spread around state government. He had worked in government since 1994, most recently as the administrative director of the Maine Public Utilities Commission. Attorney General Steven Rowe, who was speaker of the House in 1999 and 2000, visited Halley at her home and called Damon "one of the most honorable and decent people I have ever known." Halley said her husband was brought up as a Quaker, converted to Roman Catholicism as an adult and had a passion for social justice. She said he opposed the war, but when he was called to serve in Afghanistan in his 20th and probably final year in the Guard, he went willingly. "He didn't agree with the war, but he also believed that he had made a commitment to our country and regardless of how you feel about the president or the policy, you don't turn your back on your commitment," she said. Damon did not have a known heart problem. He was a competitive runner and appeared to be in top physical condition, family and friends said. Gov. John Baldacci called Halley on Thursday. "I told his family this morning there weren't enough nice words to capture the essence of Pat Damon," Baldacci said in a statement. "Everyone who came into contact with Pat knew him to be extremely talented." Condolence messages were also released by U.S. Reps. Tom Allen and Mike Michaud. Michaud served in the state Senate when Damon worked in the House. U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe issued a statement offering her sympathy. Damon is the second Maine resident to die while serving in Afghanistan. In February 2004, Sgt. Nicholas Golding, 24, of Addison, who was serving in the 10th Mountain Division, was killed when his Humvee struck a land mine. Damon, the son of Ellsworth and Barbara Damon, grew up in Wiscasset and Newcastle. He has a twin sister, Alicia Tenney of Chesterville. He graduated from Hyde School in Bath. After high school, Damon hitchhiked to Washington, D.C., to enter American University with only enough money to get him through a semester. Halley met him then and was immediately attracted to his self-confidence and resourcefulness. "It was love at first sight," she said. "We started dating immediately." They married in 1986 while Damon was still a student at American. They worked in Washington for a few years after graduation and then moved back to Maine, where Damon got involved in politics. In 1994, Damon started working as a legislative aide in the House majority leader's office, when Elizabeth Mitchell was speaker of the House. He became a senior aide to Rowe when Rowe followed Mitchell as speaker. He then worked as Patrick Colwell's chief of staff in 2001 and 2002 when Michael Saxl was the speaker and Colwell was majority leader. He remained in that post when Colwell served as speaker in 2003 and 2004. Colwell said Damon had the perfect skills for his job. "He was just a person who knew how to get things done," Colwell said Thursday. "He was very organized, but it wasn't about organization for Pat. It was about what is best for regular folks, and he was great at getting it done." While working in the Legislature, Damon would leave his house at 7 a.m. and sometimes work until 3 the next morning, his wife said. Still, Halley said, he told her the job was a "blessing." "He said, 'What you can do in one day in Augusta, you can't do in a lifetime outside. You can really affect people's lives,' " Halley said. Damon used to say that he visited the State House when he was 6 years old and announced that was where he wanted to work. His wife said serving as chief of staff for the House speaker was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. "There were 20 games going all at once, stuff coming at him from a million different directions," she said. "He was so good at it." Last year, Damon took a job at the PUC as the top administrator for the commission. His transition was seamless, said PUC Chairman Kurt Adams, because he could grasp both the regulators' goals and strategies to achieve them. "He could toggle between politics and policy more easily than anyone I've ever met," Adams said. "He was able to see both angles at the same time." Damon joined the National Guard in 1986 and had served deployments in Guatemala and Panama, Halley said. In October, he would have completed his 20th year of service and could have retired. He received word in December that he would be deployed in Afghanistan. He left home on Jan. 25 for training and arrived in Afghanistan on April 4. He corresponded with friends in Maine almost daily. Ted Potter, chief of staff for House Speaker John Richardson, said that his notes were rich with observation about the country and its people. "I would swear that half the country is under the age of 15 years old, the Taliban killed so many people, especially the Hazaras, descendants of the Mongols," one message read. "It's an odd feeling to know that I have stood on mountains that Ghengis Kahn and his armies rode around in 1169," read another. Rowe called Damon a brilliant aide, capable of understanding the complexities of any issue. He also praised him for his military service, but said Damon would not want to be remembered only for that. "Pat was a wonderful human being who truly loved his family," Rowe said. "Pat died in Afghanistan in a war zone, but he would not want to be remembered as a hero. He would want to be remembered as a good son, father and spouse. That's what he was really all about. He was honorable person, decent and generous." Staff Writer Gregory D. Kesich can be contacted at 791-6336 or at:
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