Hundreds of mourners, including former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, came to the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis on Saturday to remember former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, following a day when thousands of people paid their respects at a Capitol tribute.
The Hortmans were eulogized as warm, caring people who were the same whether they were at the Capitol or at their home in Brooklyn Park, talking dogs, baking, kids and politics.
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“Melissa Hortman will be remembered as the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history. I know that millions of Minnesotans will get to live better lives because she and Mark chose public service,” said Gov. Tim Walz.
“More kids in pre-K, fewer in poverty. More schools with the tools and teachers they need, fewer with hungry students. More trees in the ground and clean energy coursing through the grid, fewer roads and bridges at risk of failure. More people in safe and secure housing, fewer worrying about how to manage caring for their loved ones,” he added. “That’s the legacy Mark and Melissa will leave behind for all Minnesotans.”
Walz described politicians as “just a bunch of human beings trying to do the best they can. Melissa understood that better than anybody I knew. She saw the humanity in every single person she worked with, and she kept things focused on the people she served.”
Longtime family friend Robin Ann Williams remembered the Hortmans as easygoing people — “the easiest friendships you could have” — who downplayed the trappings of political power.
She recalled asking Mark about the couple’s last White House visit in December, a holiday reception for state legislators. “Mark honed in on the important stuff and told us that the Christmas cookies at the White House were excellent,” she said.
Their kitchen, remodeled over the past couple of years, was the gathering place for the Hortmans and all who came to visit. Williams drew a laugh from the church when she said Melissa Hortman agonized over what shade of beige to paint it and whether it would clash with the beige in the mud room.
They couldn’t have been further apart in music, she said, noting Mark was a Led Zepplin guy and Melissa loved ABBA, but they made it work.
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To the Hortmans’ children, Sophie and Colin, Williams said: “I know you've heard it countless times since June 14, but your parents adored you and we're proud of you. You've always carried yourselves well, and your dignity and grace over the last two weeks has been tremendous. The apples did not fall far from the trees.”
Williams recalled district door-knocking with Melissa during her first run for the Legislature. She would tell prospective voters where she disagreed with them, but those conversations were always civil and ended genially.
“We are buried in sorrow right now,” she told mourners. “But I do believe that we will experience joy again, and Mark and Melissa would not want it any other way.”
‘Ground zero’ for healing
The eulogies followed a mass where the Rev. Daniel Griffith, pastor of the Basilica of St. Mary, told mourners the Hortmans “lived lives with purpose and meaning, lives lived in service of others, in community with those they loved, their family and their friends.”
In his homily, Griffith said Minnesota had been “ground zero” for racial injustice in 2020 with the police killing of George Floyd a few miles from the church, “and now we are the ground zero place for political violence and extremism. Both of these must be decried in the strongest possible terms as they are, respectively, a threat to human dignity and indeed our democracy.”
Despite the violence, he said Minnesota “can be a ground zero place for restoration and justice and healing, but we must work together and there is much more work to be done.”
Melissa Hortman, he added, kept in her purse a worn copy of St. Francis of Assisi's Prayer for Peace that implores God to “make me an instrument of your peace.” Her mother had discovered it, he added. “I think that's a wonderful thing … all of us are called to be instruments of peace.”
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The Hortmans’ caskets arrived just after 7 a.m., carried into the church by seven uniformed conservation officers for Melissa and seven state troopers for Mark.
After the ceremony, funeral attendees hugged and wiped away tears as the Hortmans’ caskets were carried down the stairs and placed in two white hearses.
Walz presented an American flag and a Minnesota flag to Colin and Sophie Hortman. The flags flew atop the Capitol on June 14, the day their parents were killed.
The basilica bells tolled, dulling the noise of passing traffic. A State Patrol helicopter flew overhead before the Hortmans’ remains were driven away to a nearby mortuary. The family plans to hold a private burial at a later date.
‘A public servant’
The service came two weeks after Melissa, 55, and Mark, 58, were shot and killed in their home by a man authorities say posed as a police officer and who is accused of targeting multiple lawmakers he disagreed with. The man faces state and federal murder charges in the Hortman slaying and for wounding DFL state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
The funeral follows a day of remembrance for the Hortmans. In addition to Walz and Biden, thousands filed past the casket throughout the afternoon after waiting in a line that snaked around the Capitol much of the day.
Biden made a brief visit to the Minnesota Capitol on Friday, where the Hortmans had lain in state along with their dog Gilbert, a golden retriever who died from the shooting at the family home.
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Many of those lawmakers who served with Melissa Hortman served as greeters for the public, offering hugs and stories of the late leader or a shoulder to cry on.
A sprawling memorial continued to grow outside the entrance to the House chamber. It has Post-it notes addressed to the Hortmans, flowers, campaign memorabilia, photos of the couple and dog treats.
Some in the line outside the Capitol had met the Hortmans through their work and personal lives. Others waited for hours to pay respects to people they had never met.
Dick Ottman was among them.
“This lady has done an awful lot for the state of Minnesota; she’s demonstrated something that is very good in public service. She’s demonstrated to be a public servant. She isn't in it, and wasn't in it for just glory or for money,” Ottman said. “She wanted to make the world a better place. Those kind of people deserve our respect.”
Brianna Haloran came from St. Cloud with her three kids, who each held a red rose. Haloran said Hortman’s legacy of championing policies like free school lunch and paid family and medical leave has had an impact on her family.
She said she wanted her kids “to recognize that there’s always someone behind the scenes working for Minnesotans, and we want to honor that today.”
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Former state Rep. Jennifer Schultz, a Democrat from Duluth, waited in line to pay her respects with a bouquet of flowers in hand. She said she fears the shooting could put a damper on public service for would-be candidates.
“A lot of people don’t want to run, not just because of threats, but just because of the chaos and the polarization and really the disrespect of working in government because so, so, so many people have put forward this negative view of government,” Schultz said. “But people need to realize that government is people. It is us, all of us.”
MPR News producer Ellie Roth contributed to this story.
This story was originally published on MPRNews.org.
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