Appealing personality made Lynch popular as governor

Barely nine months into his first term as New Hampshire’s 80th governor, Democrat John Lynch learned just how Mother Nature would cement his legacy. The governor and first lady Susan Lynch had just finished an all-night flight to begin his first trade mission starting in Germany, which was to go on to Ukraine and the Czech Republic. This was the 52-year-old business consultant’s chance to show how he could help New  Hampshire companies to grow their budding export industry. But upon landing Oct. 9, 2005, the couple learned of a devastating and unfolding tragedy in Alstead, a tiny town in southeast New Hampshire to which Lynch had never been in any of the 14 parades in which he marched to win the election in 2004. Torrential rains swelled the Cold River and tributaries, washing away cars, homes and four miles of Route 123, killing four local residents and seven people overall.“I had basically an hour to not only make a decision about whether to return, but get the luggage and board a plane to get back,” Lynch said. In the fog of crisis management, Lynch had a brief brain cramp. “I took all of Susan’s luggage instead of my own back with me, leaving her with only the sweat suit she had worn in the plane ride over there and a lot of men’s clothes,” Lynch said. “Of course she supported my decision, but believe me, she wasn’t too enthused to learn, as I did, what had happened.” This heroic and humorous episode helps explain why Lynch will leave office Jan. 3 as arguably the most popular governor in New Hampshire history. The carnage in Alstead revealed the Lynch who would be seen in nine other natural disasters to come, a cool, decisive leader who could quickly and calmly mobilize all of state government to rescue residents, business owners and a community in dire straits. “In Alstead, I met a woman who had lost everything, but there she was at the fire station answering the phones and helping others,” Lynch said. “Local electricians worked with state officials and utilities to get generators to everyone who needed them. The Red Cross opened shelters; the Salvation Army fed volunteers and families.