Death of a Statesman

My brother e-mailed me today with the news that John Mangefel died in April at age 75. Mangefel was a powerful figure on Yap and in Micronesia. When my family moved to Yap in 1966, he was Superintendent for Elementary Schools on the island, and thus my father -- a teacher and principal -- got to know him a little. In 1967, he was elected to the Congress of Micronesia, which was trying to figure out what the status of the islands would be after they had ceased to be a Trust Territory of the United Nations administered by the US (which was basically a figleaf status for US control of the islands after taking them from Japan in WWII, who had similarly taken control of them from Germany under a League of Nations Mandate after WWI.) Once the various island groups had cut their separate deals with the US, and Yap along with three other island states formed the Federated States of Micronesia, Mangefel helped write the constitution of the FSM and then was elected the first governor of Yap.

( He was renowned for his satiric wit ... )