Tears, Laughter As Family And Friends Give Final Goodbye To Al Simpson

CODY — Wyoming may have lost a legend with former U.S. Senator Al Simpson’s death, but the 6-foot, 7-inch man who stood larger than life is surely not forgotten.

Simpson died March 14 at the age of 93. 

On Monday, Simpson’s family and friends gathered at Christ Episcopal Church in Cody for his funeral service, the final event in a series of honors that started at the state Capitol last week.

In addition to Simpson’s family, around 150 of his closest friends were also in the audience, including U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, Gov. Mark Gordon, State Auditor Kristi Racines, former U.S. senator and professional basketball player Bill Bradley, Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly, and University of Wyoming President Ed Seidel.

Country Western music star Clint Black also sang a song in his honor.

The service featured jokes, laughter and stories of Simpson, who left his mark on the world in countless ways beyond his 18 years representing Wyoming on Capitol Hill. As his daughter Sue Simpson Gallagher put it, he was a man of countless interests and hobbies that spanned the gamut from cashmere sweaters to singing prohibition-era songs to former UW star Josh Allen.

Simpson Gallagher and her siblings also spoke to the health difficulties their father went through in the last few years of his life that cast a shadow into the autumn of his years. 

“It was tough, a guy with such pride and courage, to see him deal with those issues but fight back and keep fighting right until the very end,” his son Bill Simpson said.

But despite those difficulties, Simpson carried on, keeping his bar license to practice law active until the end of last year and making public appearances throughout 2024, including for the naming of a UW law building in his honor.

Simpson remarked at this event that as far as he knew, it was the first time the university had ever dedicated a building to a “C” student. 

Tears And Laughter

Filled with emotion, Monday’s service featured bellyaching laughs, tears and thought-provoking lessons.

If there was any concern about Simpson’s famous quips and one-liners following him to the grave, that worry was sufficiently erased as his family made sure his most famous “Al-isms” were told at least one last time.

His grandson Nick Simpson mentioned Al’s quip that “if life was logical, men would ride side-saddle” on their horses, drawing the biggest laugh of the event.

But there were plenty of somber moments as well, with Al’s brother Pete Simpson bringing up the strong bond the two had.

“To the degree which Al and I became brothers, we really owe that to our mother, who always told us, ‘If you stick together, nothing will overwhelm you,’” Pete Simpson said.

Streaks of Al can be seen throughout the Simpson family, along with the unique identity his siblings, wife, children and grandchildren carry. The entire family has made a huge impact on Cody and Wyoming in a variety of ways, filled with former governors, prominent attorneys, judges and leaders in the art world.

“Al’s pride in you people was so complete and so overwhelming,” Pete Simpson said.

Wonderfully Human

Al was no angel, and it was his folksy, candid demeanor that made him beloved to so many, when compared to the so many others holding similar positions in society who are as stiff as sheetrock.

Al’s son Bill Simpson, a district court judge, remarked how “there were those that loved him, and frankly those that didn’t,” mentioning how he was quick to anger but just as fast to forgive.

He told the story of his father’s 1978 U.S. Senate campaign, where Al and his opponent held a contentious but high-spirited campaign filled with friendly jibes against each other, including “Three Stooges” references.

“He loved it, every minute of it,” Bill Simpson said.

All of Simpson’s children brought up their mother Ann and the marriage she kept with Al for 70 years.

It wasn’t a perfect marriage, a point the couple literally wore on their shirts with buttons reading “love is a hell of a lot of work” after seeking marriage counseling in the 1970s, Simpson Gallagher said.

“It was totally, mortifyingly embarrassing,” she said drawing, laughter from the audience. “But the truth of it is, that love is work sometimes, and it is always worth it.

When asked what the secret to their marriage was, Simpson Gallagher said her mother responded that they never wanted a divorce at the same time. 

The human touch Al possessed, whether he was interacting with a sitting U.S. president or young child, is what made him so special. Simpson Gallagher said she will try to live her life with a kinder touch in her father’s honor.

“He’s gone now, but not really because he lives in all of us,” she said.

Final Goodbyes

Barrasso has attended funeral ceremonies for a handful of former members of the state’s congressional delegation. If there’s one strain bringing them all together, he said, it’s the impact that each one has made on the state, and the corresponding response from the Wyoming people.

“The people of Wyoming really do unite to honor those who served the state and the nation,” Barrasso told Cowboy State Daily. 

Members of the Park County Fire District called out for Al, a former volunteer firefighter, over their dispatch in his honor, completed with a solemn ringing of a bell.

The ringing of the bell is a common memorial to honor a fallen firefighter who has come home for the final time. Audible sobs could be heard throughout the audience during this ceremony.

Pete Simpson brought up how Al was sometimes compared to former President Abraham Lincoln during his career, much to Al’s annoyance.

Choking up, he compared the death of his brother to the falling of an old and sturdy cedar tree, much as Lincoln’s death had been described, leaving a giant open space to the sky.

“Goodbye Al,” Pete Simpson said. ‘I’ll see you sometime soon.”

Contact Leo Wolfson at leo@cowboystatedaily.com

Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.