Jessie Bloom Quoted at Knoll Funeral Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Knoll lauded at funeral
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
By Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Amid a keen of bagpipe and a whirlwind of memories, Catherine Baker Knoll, a woman who sometimes fought for respect, was paid tribute today in a cathedral filled with political leaders and presided over by seven bishops.

The powerful came: Gov. Ed Rendell, Sens. Bob Casey and Arlen Specter, members of the General Assembly.

Elsie Hillman, grand dame of the state's Republicans, sat alongside Democratic Auditor General Jack Wagner and joined him in offering the prayers of intercession.

Too, came the ordinary citizens who had brushed shoulders, pressed hands and shared chicken dinners and neighborhood coffees with Mrs. Knoll, the state's lieutenant governor who died Nov. 12.

"Whenever we called her she came. Whenever we needed someone," said Jessie Bloom, Democratic chair in Lycoming County, a place dominated by the GOP, and a venue to which party leaders often struggled to find high profile speakers for events.

"We always have trouble getting some of the candidates, particularly the statewide candidates, to come to this area. She never refused us," said Mrs. Bloom, who drove in from Williamsport for today's services at St. Paul's Cathedral in Oakland.

"I'm just devastated over this happening to her."

Mrs. Knoll, 78, of McKees Rocks, died of neuroendocrine cancer.