A memorial party for former Haines, Skagway and Palmer municipal administrator and manager Tom Healy (74) was held at Woadie’s in Skagway on June 21. 

Healy died peacefully in Palmer on May 14 of complications from blood cancer. Healy’s public memorial service noted his pragmatism, diplomacy, patience, tact and goodwill. 

Tyler Healy praised his father’s “intellect, good humor and class.”

Healy was an anomaly in the high stress political world of municipal managers. Everywhere he worked he stayed twice as long as most, left on good terms, and was invited back as an interim or advisor. Mayor Tom Morphet said Healy was one of the most effective and longest serving administrators Haines ever had. 

“Tom had the temperament for the job. He was approachable, open with information, kind. He was a solid guy. He showed up every day and talked to people respectfully,” Morphet said.

He served in Skagway for 10 years in public works followed by five years as manager and several interims, most recently in 2019. He managed Haines from 1992-1999, and in Palmer was manager from 1999-2007. Healy returned as public works director from 2013-2016. 

Healy and his wife Marcia and their sons Tyler and Kelly were active in Haines community affairs, and Kelly and Tyler continue to play basketball with Haines Gold Medal teams.

Thomas Robert Healy was born on July 11, 1950 in Minneapolis, the second son of George and Dorothy Healy. His father, a professor, moved the family east to teach at M.I.T. and then Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Healy spent school vacations with family in the north woods of Wisconsin and on a farm in Maine. 

His brother David said, “the two largely rural, gritty, nature experiences formed a lot of his personality core and encouraged the Healy family gene to travel.”

Healy ski jumped at Lewiston High and was captain of the state championship ski team. He graduated in 1968 and earned a BA in journalism from Berkeley. He worked as copy boy/assistant for the San Francisco Chronicle. 

In the spring of 1976, an injury postponed a cross-country bicycle trip so he hitchhiked to Alaska instead. He landed in Skagway. The gold rush town appealed to his sense of history and independent spirit. A few weeks later he began hitchhiking south to restart his bike trip. After waiting hours for a ride in the mountains of British Columbia, he made “a split-second life-changing decision to return to Skagway,” Tyler said. “He walked across the road and caught a ride back to the ferry terminal in Prince Rupert from the first car that passed.”

Tom met Marcia Carr on the M/V Matanuska out of Prince Rupert on that summer’s solstice. 

They wed three years later to the day and were married 45 years at the time of his passing.

His first job in Skagway was with the Skagway News. Former editor Jeff Brady said “Tom was a brilliant writer and a creative guy. He wrote a very funny piece when the Love Boat arrived in town with all the stars.” 

Healy’s first home there was an abandoned wooden water tower. “He had to climb in and out through a hatch in the top,” Brady said. 

Healy’s municipal career began in public works as the Skagway garbage man and progressed to laborer, supervisor, and city manager. He oversaw the paving of Skagway’s roads, modernization of its water and sewer systems, and laid the foundation for the tourism boom. 

In 1992, Healy moved with Marcia and their sons to Haines where he worked to expand the cruise ship dock, oversaw the consolidation of the city and borough, and enjoyed watching the boys play basketball.

Healy left Haines for the rapidly growing Mat-Su Valley in 1999. As Palmer city manager, he oversaw construction of an ice rink and a $14 million utility extension allowing for a new hospital. He served as city manager there until his first retirement in 2007. 

At the time, former mayor John Combs said he stayed “about twice as long as long” as most managers and expressed regret that he was leaving.

Friend Mike Sica, a journalist who covered Healy in Skagway and Haines for KHNS, says with his Camel cigarettes, sports car and khaki slacks, Healy projected a Gary Cooper-like smoothness. 

“He could have been in Sargent York,” Sica said. He also said Healy was “a great center fielder.” He played for the Prospector softball team, and he idolized Ted Williams, which Sica said was fitting. 

Tall, lean and unflappable, “Tom was the right-handed version of the ‘Splendid Splinter,’” he said. Sica also noted the irony that Healy, an avid reader of history, philosophy and the likes of P.J. O’Rourke and Hemingway, spent his work life “parsing incredibly boring and poorly written” bureaucratic documents.

Off the record and out of the office,  Tyler Healy said his father was playful and “mildly subversive,” penning anonymous letters to the editor lampooning the public process for family and friends.

Recently, Healy enjoyed endless rounds of golf, driving his sports car, traveling the U.S. and the world, and spending time with family and friends. In addition to Marcia, Tyler and Kelly he leaves brothers David and Roger, and grandchildren Desirae, Milo, and Sam.