Andrus remembered…

The public memorial service for the late Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus has wrapped up, in a standing-room-only ballroom that seats 1,300 people at Boise State University. Among the highlights: Andrus’ daughter, Tracy Andrus, told the crowd, “You know, growing up an Andrus kid, you learned that your father had to be shared with many others. Sometimes that was hard to do.” But, she said, she and her sisters realized that he loved “all of you. … You are all part of the man and his legacy, and on behalf of the family, we sincerely thank you for being here.”

After sharing memories, both touching and humorous, of life with Andrus, she said, “He is was and always has been the only true hero that any of us has ever had.”

Congressman Mike Simpson said to laughter, “This may be the only time in my career in politics that I’ll get the last word on Cecil Andrus.” He added, “Whether you were a friend or foe of Cecil’s, you always respected him.”

Simpson said when he first was elected to the Idaho Legislature, he couldn’t figure out why his party – the Republicans – had controlled both houses of the Legislature for so long, but couldn’t elect a Republican governor. Instead, there was Andrus, a Democrat.

“For 24 years, we could never figure that out,” Simpson said. “And being the most Republican state in the country, it took me a while, and I’m not that slow, but it took me a while to figure out that there had to be a lot of Republicans voting for this Cecil Andrus character.” Laughter swelled, and Simpson said, “I came to the realization, they weren’t voting for a Republican, they weren’t voting for a Democrat – they were voting for a man. … Someone they could trust.”

A video tribute offered entertaining glimpses of Andrus’ life and career, including snippets from his campaign commercials and even from TV commercials for Idaho potatoes.

Marc Johnson, longtime aide to Andrus, said Andrus lived “a quintessentially American life, rising from the most modest of beginnings. … Frequently his many and varied victories came in the face of the longest of odds.”

Johnson said, “This guy could have done absolutely anything in politics or in business. He inspired people to be better than they were, and they followed him. And that is the essence of great leadership.”