The sun sets on another of Nevada’s great men

RENO -- Another cavernous Roman Catholic Church, filled to capacity with mourners. Another series of eulogies, filled with laughter and tears.

Another great man laid to rest.

Nevada said goodbye to Bill Raggio, her longest-serving state senator, on Monday at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. Pews overflowed with regular people and the whole of Nevada's political firmament, from Gov. Brian Sandoval on down.

Such it was in 2004, as mourners packed the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer church in Las Vegas, after the death of former Gov. Mike O'Callaghan. And again in 2010, as a standing-room-only crowd came St. Joseph Husband of Mary to mark the unexpected passing of former Gov. Kenny Guinn.

Nevada has plenty more Catholic churches, but precious few great men.

Ironically, Raggio had always wanted Guinn to give his eulogy, but it was Raggio who traveled south for Guinn's funeral. On Monday, Guinn's widow, Dema, comforted Raggio's wife, Dale.

"We gather this afternoon to thank God for Bill Raggio," one of the celebrants said as the funeral Mass began. This was not the first time that was said, either. Down the road in Carson City, where Raggio orchestrated the end of many a session hung up on many a thorny, intractable issue, they thanked God for him, too.

And what a career: Over 38 years, Raggio saw 17 regular sessions and eight special sessions and served under seven governors, developing a reputation as a tough and canny negotiator willing to compromise if he thought it as in the interests of the state.

"The senator's middle name was Nevada," said the Monsignor Leo McFadden.

Former Gov. Richard Bryan said Raggio came to the Legislature in "a golden age of collegiality," one without party caucuses or party-imposed voting orders. "Bill Raggio understood that compromise was something that is very necessary. Not everybody today understands that," Bryan said.

Sandoval agreed: "For the people Bill has left behind, it falls on us to follow his example. He was simply the best we can be."

As partisan obstruction grips legislatures from Carson City to Washington, we could do a lot worse that the Raggio example.

But he was also a devoted father, and devout Catholic, not above playing tricks on his daughters or sending a not-so-subtle signal to his favorite priest that a shorter homily would suit him just fine. He also wasn't above showing up at your house swearing that he believed tonight was the night he'd been instructed to come over for dinner, eulogist Raymond Avansino Jr. recalled.

Daughter Leslie Raggio Righetti said her father once wished he could gather the rains that fell so copiously on neighboring California and bring them to water arid Nevada. "I think everyone would agree that Bill was the rain and made it greener for all of us," she said.

Indeed, Raggio brought the green, especially to his beloved Northern Nevada, nurturing the Nevada System of Higher Education (and his beloved alma mater, UNR). In fact, his steely leadership paid off for the North long after the population center of Nevada shifted to Las Vegas.

"The lion of the North has been taken from us, but in our hearts, he will always be there," Bryan said.

Avansino agreed in his eulogy: "Bill crept into our hearts, and there he shall always remain."

Toward the end of Raggio's funeral Mass, the rays of a beautiful setting Nevada sun streamed through a giant stained-glass window at the head of the church, a depiction of a Nevada sunrise behind a mountain range. The light illuminated the cloth covering Raggio's casket, marking the sunset of another great man laid to rest.

Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist and author of the blog SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 387-5276 or SSebelius@reviewjournal.com.