Hundreds gathered at Rez Church in Loveland Saturday to remember the late House Minority Leader Hugh Monroe McKean, who died of a sudden heart attack on Oct. 30 at the age of 55.

Family and friends shared stories of McKean, often noting that no one was ever a stranger and never left meeting him without a hug. 

“Hugh would have worked this room,” joked his older brother, Andrew. 

Pastor Jonathan Wiggins shared McKean’s faith. Not surprisingly, McKean’s favorite Bible verse was from First Corinthians, chapter 13: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”

But even Wiggins shared a bit of humor, recalling that McKean’s son, Aiden, called his dad a “seven year old in a 55 year old body with a driver’s license.”

The theme of Saturday’s service was McKean’s love of people, of God, of his family and of serving the people of Loveland and Colorado.

The latter was a nod to McKean’s inability to ever keep on schedule, because he would stop to talk to everyone along the way. A trip to the grocery story could be a pain,’ joked his former brother-in-law, Oystein Vollstad. “He was the brother I never had, the rock I could always reach out to.” 

Dozens of lawmakers, past and present, partisan and nonpartisan staff, lobbyists and other dignitaries joined in the celebration of McKean’s life.

Aiden shared his dad’s favorite quote: “Aiden, pull your head out of your ass!,” which drew lots of laughs. “I heard that a lot and 90% of the time I deserved it.”

McKean would tell Aiden he wasn’t there to be his son’s friend. “I don’t even care if you like me. I’m here to make you a good man.” But he would finish those lectures by telling Aiden he loved him. “He was my best friend,” Aiden said. 

Aiden recently celebrated his first birthday without his dad, and read from a text he got a year ago. Through tears, Aidan read that text, including how proud Hugh is of the young man Aidan has become. “I want to be everything like him.” 

McKean’s partner, Amy Parks, and his best friend, Scott James, came up with a “top ten list” on how McKean is to his family and friends, not the city councilman, or statesman, or even the House minority leader. He would have been honored by the pomp and circumstance surrounding his passing in the last few days, but his inner seven-year-old would be screaming, “Where are the jokes, folks?”

He’d wonder where are the open-mouthed laugh moments? James added.

McKean might have been the first sitting lawmaker to lie in state at the Capitol, but he’d be more proud of getting two governors —one Republican, one Democrat —to look at each other and say “I love you,” James said.

To share the Hugh they knew, Parks and James came up with “top ten things that made Hugh Hugh.”

Among them:

#10: he was a walking encyclopedia, knew something about everything and would readily volunteer what he knew.

#9: he could make anything awkward, especially with his “don’t let go” hugs and as newly-elected Minority Leader Mike Lynch of Wellington said Thursday, he made the most inappropriate jokes at the appropriate moment. “THere was no stopping or filtering the man,” Parks said.

#8: he hated fancy. James recalled a dinner at the Greeley Country Club with his wife, Parks and McKean. McKean probably hated every second of it because it was too fancy, James said.

#7: he was a thinker, and when a thought popped into his head, he could barely contain his excitement, Parks said. If he was in a conversation and had a contributing thought, he’d raise his hand like a second-grader in the back row until he was called on. 

#6: he fixed things.

He cared, he listened, he lived and laughed and loved big, and at the top of the list: he loved when he didn’t have to.

Donations in McKean’s honor should be made to Foothills Gateway, an organization devoted to assisting those with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Northern Colorado.