06/25/2026
Fifty years ago, Washington Council Member Les Purce made history in his home state of Idaho. As a member of the Pocatello City Council, Purce was elected Mayor by his fellow Council Members in January 1976, thus making him the first Black mayor in Idaho history and among the first in the entire Pacific Northwest.
He grew up in Pocatello and had been elected to the City Council in 1973, at the age of 25. To commemorate this historic event, the Idaho State Journal recently reported on Purce’s life, career, and legacy in Idaho, Washington state, and throughout the Northwest. Purce’s parents were deeply involved in Pocatello’s civic life, and their upbringing helped teach him the importance of public service and giving back.
After graduating from Pocatello High, he quickly earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees at Idaho State University. After his tenure on the Pocatello City Council, Purce served in the state government in Idaho for over a decade. Following a stint in the private sector, he became president of The Evergreen State College in Olympia from 2000-2015. (Purce has also earned renown for his impeccable ability to deliver rousing renditions of Evergreen’s “Geoduck Fight Song.”)
When he reached an age when retirement beckons for most, Purce's devotion to environmental issues instead led him to become co-chair in a task force for protecting orca whale populations in Washington state. In 2023, he was appointed to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
As the article noted, 50 years later Purce is still at work, although he now works for a different Council. He’s still driven by the same spirit of public service and good governance.
Read the article by reporter Braxton Gregory, who’s interning at the Idaho State Journal this summer through the Voces Internship of Idaho program, in the link in the comment section.
