Departed from p 20 “Grant Woods: There is no such thing as a bad photo opportunity.” Woods and his flak went ballistic, threatening to sue, call- ing the stunt below the belt, and lambast- ing the editors for making the man look like “the jackass of Arizona.” His relations with the press could get testy in other ways. The Arizona Press Club bestowed the Brick Wall Award on him because, under his watch, the attorney general’s office had been particularly awful about thwarting public records requests. As attorney general, he advocated for establishing a state holiday to honor Mar- tin Luther King Jr., and was a driving force behind a historically large settlement with the tobacco industry. But it was his stature in later years, after leaving office, that defined his legacy. A Re- publican throughout his political career, Woods had no place for the toxic, vile brand of politics that consumed his party. He registered as a Democrat and endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2020. He made no bones about his distaste for the man he wanted Biden to replace. When Colin Powell died and was lion- ized in the media, Donald Trump issued a statement dripping with sarcasm on Octo- ber 19. Trump blasted the former general and diplomat as a RINO who made “big mistakes.” Woods took aim. “This is repulsive. Vote out anyone who supports this person. Every single one. It is disqualifying,” Woods tweeted. Grant Woods died of a heart attack, age 67, four days later. “My love, best friend and partner Grant Woods unexpectedly passed away,” his wife, Marlene Galan, wrote on Twitter. “Words fail me at this time. I loved him without measure.” SEAN HOLSTEGE Judd Herberger July 13, 1942-October 27, 2021 It’s difficult to imagine what Phoenix arts and culture would be without the Her- berger family. The legacy of patronage began with Katherine and Bob, who moved to Phoenix in the 1940s and began shaping the cultural life of the city, in- cluding founding Herberger Theater Center and contributing to the creation of Phoenix Art Museum. That love of the arts and dedication to philanthropy was passed down to their children, including their son Judd. A homebuilder and real estate developer by trade, Herberger’s passion was furthering the cause of arts and culture in Arizona. He and his wife, Billie Jo, supported a number of metro Phoenix arts organizations, in- cluding ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona Opera, Ballet Arizona, Kids in Focus, Phoenix Theatre, Release the Fear, Scottsdale Philharmonic, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Valley Youth Theater, and more. Herberger gave back to the community he lived in most of his life right up until the very end: Just 10 days before his death, he and his wife hosted the American Heart Association’s Phoenix Heart Ball at their home. He leaves Phoenix, his home for more than 80 years, far, far better than he found it. JENNIFER GOLDBERG Bob Bondurant April 27, 1933-November 12, 2021 Phoenix has always been a car town. So it’s perhaps not surprising that racing cham- pion Bob Bondurant ended up in the Valley of the Sun. Born in Evanston, Illinois, he started out racing motorcycles in his teens before heading west to California, where he switched to cars and began to make a name for himself. He raced Corvettes in the early 1960s before becoming a part of Carroll Shelby’s Ford Cobra team, and drove Ferraris and McLarens before a devastating crash ended his racing career in 1967. The inci- dent spurred him to open the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in Irvine, California, in 1968, where he offered instruction in racecar driving, motorcycling, and drag racing. The school moved around California as it grew before landing in Phoenix in 1989. If you like movies about cars, you’ve got Bob Bondurant to thank for some of the genre’s best offerings: He trained Paul Newman for 1969’s Winning, along with Tom Cruise for Days of Thunder (1990) and well into his 80s, coached Christian Bale for Ford v. Ferrari in 2019. Though the school filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and was purchased and renamed the next year, Bondurant’s legacy as a racer, teacher, and advocate for safe driving is in- delible. “I love teaching and I love driving,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1988. “I hope I never grow up. It would be a disas- ter.” JENNIFER GOLDBERG Sheena the Elephant 1971-November 22, 2021 Sheena was no ordinary elephant. She had a gentle demeanor but a commanding pres- ence. In her 21 years in Phoenix, she taught those around her what it meant to be brave, to be compassionate, and to love life. She passed away November 22 of natu- ral causes. She died as she lived — peace- fully. Sheena was born wild in 1971. And al- though domestic life in America was her norm since 1972, she maintained a bit of a wild side. She “wasn’t overly rambunc- tious,” caretakers said, but she would get rowdy in her barn alone — until someone walked in and she would freeze. It was an endearing sight. She arrived at the Phoenix Zoo in 2000 from the Ringling Brothers Center for Ele- phant Conservation. Asian elephants like Sheena are endangered due to poaching, habitat loss, and human-elephant conflict. But the Arizona Center for Nature Conser- vation, which operates the Phoenix Zoo, gave Sheena a second chance at life — and she embraced it to the fullest extent. Sheena, who was 50 when she died, lived years beyond the average lifespan for an Asian elephant, something her caretak- ers attribute to her resolute sense of self and overall love of life. Corey Barr, the senior elephant keeper, said, “I just don’t know what words could ever actually describe what a special being Sheena was.” ELIAS WEISS 22 JAN 6TH– JAN 12TH, 2022 PHOENIX NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | NEWS | OPINION | FEEDBACK | CONTENTS | phoenixnewtimes.com
