- Funeral services held Monday for former Utah Congresswoman Mia Love.
- Loved ones and friends celebrated Love's optimism and belief in the American Dream.
- Latter-day Saint apostle Elder Ronald A. Rasband spoke of his decades-long relationship with the Loves.
The abundant, service-driven life of Mia Love — a pioneering stateswoman who aptly served a state defined by its pioneer legacy — was celebrated and honored Monday at her public memorial service.
The former Utah congresswoman died March 23 following a three-year battle with glioblastoma multiforme, a type of brain cancer. She was 49.
Hundreds of family members, friends and fellow lawmakers gathered for Monday’s funeral service at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Institute of Religion on the University of Utah campus.
The gathering doubled as a reminder that Love was many things to many people.
For the history books, she will forever be remembered as the first Black Republican woman in the U.S. House of Representatives.
But for her loved ones, neighbors and associates in the oft-times pugilistic world of politics, Love was much more. She was a mother, wife, grandmother, sister, daughter, fellow disciple and, for many, “a best friend.”
The tone of Monday’s memorial seemed to reflect the woman, herself. It was flavored with humor, deep emotion, spiritual conviction, family unity — and a resilient belief in the promise and future of America.
Messages were shared by the late congresswoman’s husband, Jason Love, and her sister, Cynthia Brito — along with Elder Ronald A. Rasband from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Deidre Henderson, Utah’s lieutenant governor.
Each shared their memories and admiration for Love’s grit, influence and a legacy grounded in principles of self-reliance, optimism and faith.
Meanwhile, Love’s own recorded words about her belief in “the rising sun” that is America allowed the late congresswoman to add her own voice to the gathering.
Jason Love: My wife was ‘my antidepressant’
Love’s husband, Jason Love, marveled at his wife’s unique gift “of making work fun.”
Such unshakable optimism was found in Mia Love’s final days.
“She made it very clear to me and to our family that she wanted this moment to be a time of celebration,” said Jason Love. “And it’s my wish to fulfill that desire for this wonderful woman.”
Jason Love saluted his wife’s heritage as a proud Haitian-American driven by her conviction of the reality of the American Dream. Her strongest traits were gifts she passed on to the couple’s three children: Alessa, Abigale and Peyton.
“As you look at them, you see Mia,” said Jason Love, “They are blessed with her love of dance and of song. They know how to make work fun. They are the best of her — and she lives on with him.”
Jason Love called his wife “my antidepressent” and said he was continually uplifted by her hope and positivity. “I loved hearing her stories at the end of each day because it always sounded larger than life. She loved the story of the Rising Sun in America. It reflected her optimism.”
He then invited Monday’s audience to listen to an audio recording of Mia Love’s voice expressing her belief that her country’s best days, like a rising sun, await:
“I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun. ... America has been on the rise — and I am convinced that the best is yet to come. The Great America Rising has always been based on our belief in the ability of every individual to rise like the morning sun.”
Jason Love shared his humor-filled story of meeting his future wife while he was serving a full-time mission on the Atlantic Coast.
The first time that then-Elder Love encountered Mia Bourdeau, she was wearing a rose-colored turtleneck sweater and “singing powerfully” a song from “The Phantom of the Opera”.
The memory of that unique introduction remained with the young missionary. So he was thrilled when, in August of 1998, he learned that Mia had moved to Utah.
The two “quickly became inseparable” — and, months later, were married.
Children soon followed, and the Loves built a life that was grounded by a common faith in Christ and family devotion.
Jason Love added that his wife’s work ethic and restless desire to improve her community and country fueled her evolution into public service. Even in the partisan political arena, her affability remained.
“A former colleague recently emailed me and said, ‘We come from very different personal and political worlds, but I couldn’t help but like (Mia Love),” said Jason Love.
The email continued: “It didn’t matter how much I disagree with her, I still liked her. She radiates energy and compassion.”
That energy and compassion, added Jason Love, was felt most strongly inside the walls of the family home.
“She was an extraordinary mother, and she believed that the most important work she would do in her life was within the walls of her own home with her children.
“She always made it a special place for each of them to feel loved and to begin to achieve their full potential.”
Jason Love added that their shared faith in Jesus Christ allowed them to navigate marriage’s sometimes choppy waters.
“As conflicts arose, we always kept an eternal perspective that those small conflicts would be just a blink of an eye in the eternities,” he said. “And we had the most extraordinary 27 years of marriage — filled with all the fullness of love that a family can have.”
A ‘living wish’ for America
During Monday’s service, each of Jason and Mia Love’s three children — Alessa, Abigale and Peyton — read excerpts from a message that their mother wrote just weeks prior to her passing entitled, “My Living Wish for the America I Know.”
“As a mayor, member of Congress and media commentator, I have seen the worst of petty politics, divisive rhetoric and disappointing lapses of moral character by some,” she wrote.
“These same roles also provided me a front row seat and backstage pass to be blessed and inspired by the courage, vision and hope of America’s finest, daughters, sons and citizens.”
The Love children ended their reading with their mother’s concluding wish:
“My living wish and fervent prayer for you and for this nation is that the America I have known is the America you fight to preserve — and that each citizen and every leader will do their part to ensure that the America we know will be the America our grandchildren and great-grandchildren inherit.”
An Apostle’s blessing
Elder Rasband enjoys a decades-old connection with the Loves.
That Latter-day Saint apostle was Jason Love’s mission president in the New York New York Mission. And he became acquainted with Mia Bourdeau soon after she was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“From that day forward, through their magnificent life that we’ve heard about today, we have been on the spiritual side of Mia and Jason’s life,” he said.
Elder Rasband spoke of giving several priesthood blessings to Mia Love during her battle with cancer. He knows that the Love family is at peace, even as they grieve the loss of their loved one to mortality.
The Apostle was uplifted watching Mia Love in the final months of her life celebrate the arrival of a granddaughter named Mera, attend the temple with her daughter, Abigale, and watch as her son, Peyton, prepared to serve a full-time mission.
The Loves, added Elder Rasband, believe deeply in the principle taught in the church’s “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”: Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved “when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Elder Rasband concluded by saying God loves all of his children.
“I’m grateful that Mia has been taken home to that God who gave her life in a state of never-ending happiness,” he said. “May God bless us here to continue with her wish that has been so beautifully shared with us today.”
Mia Love: ‘Doing and being the best’
Cynthia Brito called her sister, Mia, “one of the bravest human beings I will ever know. Mia has never shied away from hard work.
Brito remembered young Mia Love pursuing acting roles and “being amazing on stage.”
She was skilled at “being the best” at whatever role Mia Love assumed. She made friends easily and embraced the role of pioneer as a city mayor, U.S. Congresswoman and media commentator.
Her passing, said Brito, will not halt her continued efforts to improve.
“Our sister Mia — the best auntie, the best mother, the best friend, the best co- worker, the best leader, the best wife, the best sister-in-law, the best sister — is still working.
“I know Mia is doing and being the best.”
Lt. Gov. Henderson spoke of bonding with her friend Mia Love through their shared love of music, Utah, America and their families.
Henderson relished the memory of being in Tampa, Florida, in 2012 for the Republican National Convention — and dashing to the nearest Nordstrom to buy pumps for Love, who had forgotten her shoes prior to speaking at the event.
“I was so proud as she indeed walked tall onto that national platform to spread her inspiring vision and hope for America,” said Henderson.
“Mia lived up to her name. She did everything with her whole heart. She genuinely loved people, and was never too busy to think of others and offer words of encouragement.”
Henderson added her friend’s hope for America remains part of her legacy.
“Mia was a powerful force,” she said. “Mia used her influence to spread her faith in America and uplift and build those around her — always believing that we are stronger and better together.
“I miss her. We all miss her. And although she is no longer physically present in our lives, she does still live.”