Saying goodbye over and over again will do that to even the most stoic politician. And when KUED host Ken Verdoia thanked Walker for her service, her eyes filled.
"I shouldn't have answered that last question," the governor said when the studio cameras had been turned off Thursday.
After nearly 25 years in state government, the final days of Walker's year at the helm are sifting away. She served 10 years in the Utah Legislature, two years as the state's Community and Economic Development director, 11 years as lieutenant governor and a final year as governor when former Gov. Mike Leavitt left to become administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Walker handled her last televised news conference with typical candor and unscripted responses. She joked about quenching the state's six-year drought and reviving the economy - "What else do you want?" she asked. She cautioned those who follow her to consider her fiscal policies - spending surpluses on building projects and Utah's rainy day fund.
And the governor made a final pitch for tax reform while the state is flush with surplus cash - about $235 million this year.
Walker's plan proposes a flat income tax, sales tax on services and eliminating corporate sales taxes.
"This is the perfect time to look at tax reform," Walker said. "If you're in a crisis situation, you're not only looking at the basic policies, you're looking at tax increases. That makes [tax reform] far more difficult."
She acknowledges Gov.-elect Jon Huntsman Jr. and lawmakers will have to tinker with her ideas before they will take ownership of the plan.
"It'll never pass if it's Olene's package," Walker said.
Walker's campaign coffers are empty after her unsuccessful, $480,000 bid for election to the governor's office. She lost to Huntsman at the Republican Convention in May. The governor has a little money left in her "Special Projects" fund. After paying for holiday open houses, farewell dinners and Christmas cards, Walker says she will donate the rest - about $7,000 - to a long list of charities, including her reading program, the affordable housing trust fund that bears her name and the Salt Lake Education Foundation she directed.
Retirement seems unlikely. The 74-year-old governor is weighing job offers and board appointments within the state's higher education system and the private sector. She already has turned down several jobs that would put her back on Capitol Hill next year.
"Despite the fact that I've had some great offers to lobby, I've turned them down. So you won't see me at the Legislature," Walker said. "But I'll look at all options."
She'll be watching the Ute football team at the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., on New Year's Day, dressed in red. And she plans a two-week vacation at her St. George home in January.
Walker is philosophical about turning the job over to Huntsman.
"Four years from now, had I won, they'd probably be saying, 'When is that old lady leaving?' ” she said.
"Governors are like relay runners. You run the baton for a while. And then your obligation is to get off the track. I think the best thing I can do is to get off the track."
