Harry Reid Memorial Service

Harry Reid was remembered at his funeral Saturday by U.S. presidents, friends and family members for using his immense political power to fight for the needy and vulnerable, a practice rooted in his upbringing and his Latter-day Saint beliefs and scripture.

“For Harry, the whole point of holding office, the whole point of wielding power, was to actually get things done on behalf of those you represent,” former U.S. President Barack Obama said. “... Few people have done more for this state, this country than this driven, brilliant, sometimes irascible, deeply good man from Searchlight, Nevada.”



Born in that tiny town to a miner and a brothel’s laundress, Reid was an undersized boxer before he became Nevada’s most powerful political son, rising to become the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate. Reid died Dec. 28 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 82.

Speakers at the memorial service described a man who embodied the state’s slogan, “Battle Born,” which is printed on the state flag and emblazoned on a billboard overlooking the site of Saturday’s service, the Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

“His toughness was distinctly Nevadan. His story was distinctly American,” said U.S. President Joe Biden, who arrived here Friday on Air Force One after visiting victims of the Colorado wildfires.

Reid and Biden were friends for 50 years and worked together closely during Obama’s presidency. Biden ordered all flags on federal property lowered to half staff on Saturday to honor Reid.

“Harry Reid was a man of faith — in word and in deed,” said President M. Russell Ballard, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Harry cared for (those Jesus Christ called) ‘the least of these’ — those who were less fortunate, , sick or those who had any number of challenges.”