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Rick Mystrom
About
Rick Mystrom was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1964 while attending the University of Colorado at Boulder. Soon after the diagnosis, he committed himself to living a healthy, bold and active life with Diabetes and promised himself he would never complain about having Diabetes. He has kept these commitments.
Now at 69 years of age, and a diabetic for over 49 years, Rick is a paragon of good health. A recent stress test he took categorized him as equivalent to an “active 42 year old”.
He credits his good health to exercise, an active life and an understanding of the impact of almost every commonly available food on his body. For nearly 30 years, he has tested his blood six to ten times a days and has a unique understanding about which foods contribute to good health and which detract from good health.
His activities over the years include football, basketball, softball, tennis, golf, water skiing, wake surfing, scuba diving, snow skiing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling. He has also coached over 20 youth sports teams.
In 1972 Rick and his young family moved to Alaska where he started and operated two successful businesses. In 1981 at 37 years old, he was named Alaska’s Small Business Person of the Year and one of America’s top 3 Small Businessmen. He served two terms on the Anchorage Assembly and two terms as Mayor of Anchorage. He was also elected as Chairman of the Alaska Conference of Mayors and was selected twice as Alaska’s Elected Official of the Year.
He founded the Anchorage Olympic Organizing and served as Chairman of America’s Bid for the 1992 and 1994 Olympic Winter Games.
He founded Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Alaska and Bridge Builders of Anchorage, an organization whose mission is to bring together people of all races and cultures in Anchorage to build a “Community of Friends” and is a founding director of the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame.
He’s been involved with and led many other organizations including Rotary, United Way, The University of Alaska Foundation, The Rasmuson Foundation, The American Diabetes Association, Alaska Chapter and the Boys and Girls Club of Alaska.
Among his many honors are Boys and Girls club “Golden Man” Award; Anchorage Convention and Visitors Association, Member of the Year Award; Alaskan of the Year Denali Award; National MS Society Hope Award, Alaska’s Most Outstanding Speaker Award and was recently inducted into the Alaska Business Hall of Fame.
Rick and his wife, Mary, have raised three wonderful children who have all graduated from college and are living productive and fulfilling lives on their own.
The Sons of Godwine: Part Two of The Last Great Saxon Earls
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<p>Emerging from the long shadow cast by his formidable father, Harold Godwineson showed himself to be a worthy successor to the Earldom of Wessex. In the following twelve years, he became the King's most trusted advisor, practically taking the reins of government into his own hands. And on Edward the Confessor's death, Harold Godwineson mounted the throne—the first king of England not of royal blood. Yet Harold was only a man, and his rise in fortune was not blameless. Like any person aspiring to power, he made choices he wasn't particularly proud of. Unfortunately, those closest to him sometimes paid the price of his fame.<br /><br />This is a story of Godwine's family as told from the viewpoint of Harold and his younger brothers. Queen Editha, known for her Vita Ædwardi Regis, originally commissioned a work to memorialize the deeds of her family, but after the Conquest historians tell us she abandoned this project and concentrated on her husband, the less dangerous subject. In THE SONS OF GODWINE and FATAL RIVALRY, I am telling the story as it might have survived had she collected and passed on the memoirs of her tragic brothers.<br /><br />This book is part two of The Last Great Saxon Earls series. Book one, GODWINE KINGMAKER, depicted the rise and fall of the first Earl of Wessex who came to power under Canute and rose to preeminence at the beginning of Edward the Confessor's reign. Unfortunately, Godwine's misguided efforts to champion his eldest son Swegn recoiled on the whole family, contributing to their outlawry and Queen Editha's disgrace. Their exile only lasted one year and they returned victorious to London, though it was obvious that Harold's career was just beginning as his father's journey was coming to an end.<br /><br />Harold's siblings were all overshadowed by their famous brother; in their memoirs we see remarks tinged sometimes with admiration, sometimes with skepticism, and in Tostig's case, with jealousy. We see a Harold who is ambitious, self-assured, sometimes egocentric, imperfect, yet heroic. His own story is all about Harold, but his brothers see things a little differently. Throughout, their observations are purely subjective, and witnessing events through their eyes gives us an insider’s perspective.<br /><br />Harold was his mother's favorite, confident enough to rise above petty sibling rivalry but Tostig, next in line, was not so lucky. Harold would have been surprised by Tostig's vindictiveness, if he had ever given his brother a second thought. And that was the problem. Tostig's love/hate relationship with Harold would eventually destroy everything they worked for, leaving the country open to foreign conquest. This subplot comes to a crisis in book three of the series, FATAL RIVALRY.</p>