Stroger remembered as 'voice for the voiceless'
John H. Stroger Jr. always could bring out the people.
Most times, it was for Election Day.
Wednesday, it was to say goodbye.
More than 500 mourners packed to standing-room-only capacity in St. Felicitas Church on Chicago's South Side to bid farewell to the former Cook County Board president.
The man who began life picking cotton in rural Arkansas went out with eulogies from a U.S. senator, an Illinois governor and a Chicago mayor.
Dozens of lesser political luminaries also attended -- most out of genuine affection, but a few no doubt out of awareness of the clout that Stroger, even deceased, still holds. Many of those in attendance face a primary just two weeks away.
The mighty weren't the only ones to see off Stroger, 78. At least one apparently homeless woman attended the ceremony, her belongings sitting next to her in the back of St. Felicitas, 1526 E. 84th St. in Chicago.
Hundreds clogged the pews while dozens more stood along the sides and back of the church, unable to find a seat.
Cook County Finance Committee Chairman John Daley recalled when he first met Stroger -- at the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach, Fla. Daley, 26 at the time, had planned on making a vacation of it on the beach, but he said John Stroger would have none of it.
"John called me at 8 o'clock saying, 'Let's go visit the delegation,'" said Daley, who said Stroger's crowning achievement was the public county hospital he built that now bears his name.
"It was a voice for the voiceless," Daley said. "If it wasn't for John Stroger, those people (indigent patients) would have nowhere else to go."
"When he had given you his word, he stayed with you," recalled John Daley's brother, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.
He would know. Stroger once backed Richard Daley for mayor, taking grief for not backing the black community's overwhelming choice and eventual winner, Harold Washington.
"On behalf of the Daley family, I want to thank you as a friend. It was a two-way street," Richard Daley said.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Stroger faced endless criticism for his effort to build the new hospital, with many arguing the indigent would still be well cared for at private hospitals.
"John Stroger never bought that story," said Durbin, who added that many today are grateful he didn't.
"Not far from here, I'm sure, there is a woman with a baby in her arms who is sick … and she's scared to death," Durbin said. "Her hope (for care for that child) is there because of this man."
Both John Daley and Durbin recalled how Stroger would often sneak barbecue when away from the watchful eyes of his wife, Yonnie. Stroger had health problems and was supposed to watch what he ate.
"It was a tremendous restaurant," recalled John Daley of one meal. "But I assume it was not on his cardiologist's list of restaurants."
Many present Wednesday focused on Stroger's jovial nature.
"I have a shocking revelation. Not everybody in politics is genuinely nice," Gov. Rod Blagojevich said, to laughter. "John Stroger was."
The Rev. Jessie Jackson Jr. recalled Stroger's unabashed patronage, recalling how Stroger tried to lift up his community by giving jobs and contracts to those typically kept out of government perks.
"Show your love," called out Jackson to the crowd. "Let me hear you scream."
When the crowd responded, Jackson smiled.
"That's very good for a Catholic Church," said Jackson, who normally preaches in more vocal Baptist churches.
Some of the most heartfelt praise came not from the famous, but from those of the 8th Ward, Stroger's power base.
Roosevelt Bell, 89, walked to church from his home about a block away. He recalled how the county hospital once had people lying in the halls, the care was so bad. Stroger, he said, fixed that when he began to get involved with the hospital.
"I wouldn't miss this for the world," Bell said.
Stroger: Many share tales of kindness, barbecue