Oct 26, 2007 9:54 am US/Central
Honoring The Memory Of Late Sen. Wellstone
(WCCO)
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Six candles in honor of Wellstone and the others lost in the plane crash were lit at the ceremony. (File)
CBS
It
has now been five years since the plane crash that killed a popular Minnesota
politician.
Senator
Paul Wellstone died on his way to a funeral on the Iron Range. Wellstone's wife
Sheila, daughter Marcia, and three staffers died in the crash near Eveleth. Two
pilots also died.
Thursday
night, Minnesotans turned out to remember them.
In
all the music that was sung, and in all the speeches that were made, there was a
common theme in the service: continue Senator Paul Wellstone's work.
"Paul
was a teacher. He believed you had to live your beliefs," said Lisa Pattni, one of Wellstone's
Aides.
Friends, supporters, and former
staff gathered at College of St. Catherine in St. Paul.
They lit six candles in honor of
Wellstone and the others.
"Their
belief was that we were on this planet to make it a better place. Paul was
famous for saying, 'I'm not here to make heaven on Earth. I'm here to make this
Earth better on Earth.' And they lived that everyday," said Mark Ritchie, the Minnesota
Secretary of State.
Many of the 700 people who came to
the service didn't know Wellstone personally and many believed he stood for
high integrity and moral principals.
Friends who spoke recalled their
memories of him and the mission they'd like to continue in his honor.
Wellstone
fought for better health care and services for the mentally ill, and right now,
there's a Mental Health Parity Bill in Washington.
The
U.S. Senate has already passed it, and the House is supposed to vote on it
later this year.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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