Mourners gathered Friday afternoon to bid farewell to the late Sen. Herb Sparrow.
The public memorial service for Sparrow, who died Sept. 6 at age 82, was held at the Don Ross Centre.
Hundreds attended the service to pay their last respects to Sparrow and to the legacy he left the Battlefords and area.
The Liberal senator, who served 37 years in the upper house from 1968 to 2005, had also been a North Battleford city councillor and an active businessman and rancher.
Among those at the service were representatives of the several Battlefords service clubs, as well as municipal civic and provincial officials. Those in attendance included Mayor Ian Hamilton of North Battleford and Mayor Chris Odishaw of Battleford, as well as several councillors.
MLAs Herb Cox and Larry Doke were also in attendance as were former mayors Glenn Hornick and Wayne Ray, former MLA and MP Len Taylor, former MLA Jack Hillson, former provincial Liberal leader Ryan Bater and many other dignitaries and acquaintances of the former Senator.
The service, presided over by officiating minister Rev. Fred Tinio, included several musical and spoken tributes from children and grandchildren. The eulogy was given by his son, Ken Sparrow.
Remembered were Sparrow's many charitable and humanitarian acts, his service in public life in the Senate, his work on soil conservation in the Senate, and his business ventures including, most notably, Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Near the end of the memorial service a video was played entitled "Herbie Sets the Record Straight," in which Sparrow was shown telling a story he had repeated on several occasions about how he was once mistakenly introduced as a Sen. Swallow from Alberta who had worked in the oil industry and made $250,000 the previous year.
He would reply: "I am not Senator Swallow, I am Senator Sparrow. I am not from Alberta, I am from Saskatchewan. I am not in the oil business; I am a farmer. I did not make $250,000 last year; I lost $250,000."
The video concluded to the tune of Frank Sinatra's My Way, a song befitting the independent-minded former Senator.
Interment for Sparrow is at the City Cemetery in North Battleford. Donations in his memory can be made to the Battlefords Boys and Girls Club, Lend-a-Paw Animal Rescue Heartstrings Program or a charity of the donor's choice.
