Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Former Utah Congresswoman Mia Love's funeral services are scheduled for April 6 and 7 in Salt Lake City.
- She was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2022 and died at age 49.
- Public invited to attend; donations suggested to brain tumor and cancer centers.
SALT LAKE CITY — The public is invited to attend two funeral services for Mia Love, former U.S. congresswoman and Saratoga Springs mayor.
Love was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme brain cancer in March 2022 and was given a prognosis of 10 to 15 months, her family said. Three years later, on March 1, Love's daughter Abigale posted on her mother's social media accounts that "her cancer is no longer responding to treatment and the cancer is progressing. We have shifted our focus from treatment to enjoying our remaining time with her."
"Her voice joined those great and noble souls of history who gave voice to the principles of faith, family and freedom. In between, Mia Bourdeau Love found her voice, refined it, raised it and shared it with the world," Love's obituary says.
On March 6, the Utah Legislature honored Love's contributions to the state and the nation by issuing a formal citation for her service. Love's family members were at the state Capitol, while Love attended virtually.
She died at the age of 49 on Sunday.
On Sunday, April 6, Love will lie in state from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Utah State Capitol rotunda. The next day, Monday, April 7, memorial services will be held at 10 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint Institute of Religion on the University of Utah campus, 1780 S. Campus Drive, in Salt Lake City.
The public is invited to attend both events.
Instead of flowers, the Love family asks attendees to consider donating to the Robert Preston Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University Hospital or the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
"Many came to know Mia as the first Black Republican woman ever elected to the United States Congress. Others knew her as a former city council member, mayor, CNN commentator, University of Hartford graduate, theatrical performer, author, speaker and so much more. These are all things that Mia did but they were not who she was or is. She loved to dance, paint, run, laugh, eat great food, hang with friends, learn and serve others. For Mia, life was about what she was becoming and who she was helping more than it was about what she was doing or achieving," her obituary says.
Lying in state is a final tribute to government officials and military officers, where their remains are placed in a prominent government building, allowing the public to pay respects. For private citizens, this practice is called lying in honor.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator and the longest-serving senator from Utah, was the fifth person to lie in state at the state Capitol and the first federally elected Utah official when he died in 2022.
Former Utah Gov. Olene Walker, the first woman to serve as Utah governor, lay in state in the Gold Room at the Capitol in November 2015. House Speaker Becky Lockhart, the first woman to serve as Utah House speaker, lay in state in January 2015.
Gov. Calvin Rampton, Utah's longest-serving chief executive, had a public viewing at the Governor's Mansion after he died in September 2007. The Capitol was under renovation at the time.
Gov. Scott Matheson lay in state after his death from cancer in October 1990. Gov. George Dern lay in state in the rotunda in September 1936. He was serving as secretary of war under Franklin D. Roosevelt when he died.
