An estimated 2,000 people gathered for Rep. Jackie Walorski’s (R-IN) funeral Thursday, including dozens of members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Indiana officials, who remembered the congresswoman for her vibrant personality, public service, and commitment to faith.
Top Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), and Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb delivered remarks during the service at Granger Community Church in Granger, Indiana, honoring Walorski’s life. Walorski, 58, was killed in a car crash on Aug. 3, along with two staffers, District Director Zachery Potts, 27, and Communications Director Emma Thomson, 28.
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“She doesn’t just light up a room, she runs the room,” said McCarthy, who admitted it was difficult to speak in the past tense about the vibrant congresswoman.
“She rose to the very highest committee you could, Ways and Means, but there’s not one member of Congress on either side of the aisle that ever asked me to be on Ethics [Committee],” he continued. “But when there was an opening, there was only one person I thought to call to be the lead Republican. Why? Because of her ethics, her integrity, and her respect on both sides of the aisle.”
Scalise remembered Walorski as an integral member of his deputy whip team who would approach even the toughest conversations with “such a positive energy.” All who spoke recalled her fierce commitment to her Christian faith and her love for her family, especially her husband, Dean Swihart.
“Jackie, more than anything else, was about the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Swihart said. “I cannot tell you the hundreds of times, and I’m not exaggerating, with God as my witness, that we prayed that her position in Congress was not to be a position for her or I to get a big hit, but that it would be used for the Gospel to reach thousands of lives.”
Eulogists laughed over her characteristic impatience, her husband quipping, “She didn’t like to wait for anything, and I think her impatience has been proved out today, as she just had to beat us all to heaven.”
Reps. Ann Wagner (R-MO) and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), two of Walorski’s closest friends and colleagues, gave emotional remarks.
“Jackie, you were my fiercest advocate in Congress,” Wagner said through tears. “We worked together, we laughed and cried together, we prayed together, and, yes, we even sunbathed together. I know that you are joyfully with our Lord and Savior in the palm of his hand. But I will miss you deeply.”
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Following the church service, Walorski’s body was taken to be buried at the Southlawn Cemetery in South Bend.
Walorski’s sudden death rocked Capitol Hill and Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District, which she served since 2013. She started her career as a television reporter in her hometown of South Bend, Indiana, later holding several local positions before moving with her husband to Romania in 2004 to work as Christian missionaries and provide humanitarian aid. She was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in 2004, a position she held until 2010, when she ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House. After the district was redrawn to include more Republican voters, she won the election in 2012.
