Harry R. Truman (October 30, 1896 – May 18, 1980) came to brief fame as a well loved, if eccentric resident of Washington State who lived near Mount St. Helens and died in its 1980 eruption after stubbornly refusing to evacuate.

He was the owner of the Mt. St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake, where he lived with 16 cats, a pink Cadillac and a large supply of bourbon. He was not the owner of the Spirit Lake Lodge, as is sometimes incorrectly reported.

He became a minor celebrity during the two months of volcanic activity preceding the eruption, giving interviews to reporters and expressing his opinion that the danger from the volcano was "overexaggerated". He died in the blast, along with 56 other people, and his body was never found. The site of his former lodge is buried under about 300 feet of ash and debris.

He was born in West Virginia, but was a resident of Chehalis, Washington when he served in World War I and survived the torpedoing of the Tuscania in February 1918 off the coast of Ireland.

The modern day Truman Trail and Harry's Ridge in the Mount St. Helens region are named after him.

He was the subject of the book Truman of St. Helens: The Man & His Mountain by Shirley Rosen (ISBN 0962329711). He was also portrayed by Art Carney in the 1981 docu-drama film St. Helens. [1]

External link

• "What I learned from Harry R. Truman"