Posted on 03/05/2005 4:16:03 PM PST by Former Military Chick
Before an overflow crowd estimated at 1,200 people, former Jacksonville Congresswoman Tillie Fowler was eulogized Friday as a loving wife and mother, an exemplary public servant, an extraordinary and relentless advocate for the city and military, a caring mentor, and a loyal friend.
Those eulogies came from Fowler's longtime friend U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, Jacksonville civic leader Robert Shircliff, who had been Fowler's campaign chairman in all her political races, and the Rev. Barnum McCarty, St. Mark's Episcopal Church rector emeritus.
The Jacksonville service at St. Mark's drew a large contingent of political leaders from the city, state and federal government, as well as an array of local business leaders. Even professional football was represented by both Wayne and Delores Weaver, owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and by Paul Tagliabue, commissioner of the National Football League, whose wife grew up with Fowler in Milledgeville, Ga.
Fowler, 62, died Wednesday after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage on Monday.
Dole, R-N.C., said she was "struggling mightily" with the unfairness of losing a loved friend and valued counselor at so young an age. But Dole said she has taken comfort in something her mother told her when another friend died too young:
"It's not how long you live that matters, it's how you lived."
Fowler, she said, lived a life of service that touched thousands. Dole noted that hundreds of people have left comments on the online guest book maintained on Jacksonville.com, the Times-Union's Web site.
She quoted several comments from people who wrote about Fowler's lack of pretention, her grace and elegance, and her backbone.
Shircliff said one of Fowler's favorite quotes was from Theodore Roosevelt: "The best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."
"Tillie believed she had won that prize," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at jacksonville.com ...
What a shock. For those of us who occasionally saw her on TV, she was the perfect conservative, with common sense, superior intellect, and most of all, integrity.
Put your comments in the "guest book" if you admired her.
http://www.legacy.com/timesunion/Guestbook.asp?Page=GuestBook&PersonId=3238502&GuestPage=2
Tilly was a good neighbor, and a great Congressman, not just for this area, but for this country.
St. Marks is only 200 yards from my house, and the crowd was enormous.
She was a first class lady. God bless her.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.