Longtime U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson remembered in Dallas memorial service

Three days of services and events honoring the life of longtime U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson continued Tuesday with her funeral service at Concord Church in Dallas.

Johnson died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 89.

Tuesday's funeral began at 10 a.m. and included video messages from Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Bill Clinton followed by remarks from HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, former Ambassador and Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, Texas Sen. Royce West, Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, DART board chair Gary Slagel, Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde, Alpha Kappa Alpha President and CEO Danette Anthony Reed and The Links President Ethel Isaacs Williams.

Some of the speakers recalled how Johnson developed life-long relationships and mentored them.

Ron Kirk said he first met Johnson when she was a State Representative and he was a teenager through Johnson's friendship with Kirk's mother. The connection continued throughout Kirk's adult life.

"What I remember most about Eddie, was the no excuses, you get it done, focus on the work, not the title. It doesn’t matter what those obstacles are. You bring your A game. You prepare yourself and you put others interests ahead of yourself," Kirk said.

Royce West said he first met Johnson when he was student body president at the University of Texas at Arlington and continued receiving encouragement from her.

"She worked across party lines, and the fact of the matter is, she tried to find consensus, but don’t get it confused. If she believed in certain principals, she would articulate those principals regardless of who felt otherwise," West said.

Former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller recalled how Johnson's work in Congress helped fund DFW Airport, DART rail transit, and many other North Texas features that benefit everyone.

But Miller said Johnson also dispensed valuable advice.

"And she would sit you down in her office on her couch with lots of pillows, I was there a lot, and she would tell you what’s right," Miller said.

Danette Anthony Reed said the AKA Sorority benefited from their longtime sister Eddie Bernice Johnson, who was a trailblazer as a nurse even before her time in politics.

"She broke grounds for others. She not only helped, she could hold them up, so that others could be successful, which is very important in this world," she said.

Closing remarks were delivered by Lucy Baines Johnson, daughter of former President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Remarks from the family followed Johnson and included emotional statements from grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and EBJ's son Kirk Johnson.

A eulogy was delivered by Rev. Michael Wayne Walker, the retired pastor of Messiah Baptist Church of Brockton, Massachusetts.

On Monday, the memorials began with EBJ lying in state at the Hall of State in Dallas's Fair Park and ended with a wake in Southern Dallas attended by President Joe Biden.

Biden hailed her "immense courage" and called her "an icon and mentor to generations of public servants, through whom her legacy of resilience and purpose will endure."

The wake was held Monday night at Concord Church, the same place her funeral service will be held Tuesday morning.

The former congresswoman will be buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin on Wednesday.

Eddie Bernice Johnson, a nurse who helped bring hundreds of millions of federal dollars to the Dallas area as the region's most powerful Democrat, was a trailblazer. Johnson was the first nurse to be elected not only to Congress but also to the Texas House in 1972 and Texas Senate in 1986.

Johnson served in the U.S. House for three decades after becoming the first registered nurse elected to Congress and the first Black chief psychiatric nurse at Dallas' Veterans Affairs hospital. She went on to become the first Black woman to chair the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and she also led the Congressional Black Caucus. She left office in January after repeatedly delaying her retirement. Before Congress, she served in the Texas legislature.

The family of the former Dallas Congresswoman is negotiating with Baylor Scott & White over alleged medical neglect that the family claims caused her death.

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