IL State Rep. Jakobssen left son's hospice to vote on the marriage equality bill--it passed, he died [View all]

[renate]

Last edited Fri Nov 8, 2013, 06:10 PM - Edit history (1)

I posted this yesterday with a different heading and it sank like a stone, twice, but I'm going to try again because it's such an inspirational and moving example of heartfelt public service. The marriage equality bill passed, but it was a squeaker: only one vote to spare. That vote was Rep. Jakobssen's, and while she was away from her son's bedside, he died. She left him knowing that might happen. I can't imagine what that goodbye would have been like... to think that she had to be gone from her son's deathbed solely in order to counteract the votes of people who think that people who love each other shouldn't be allowed to marry. So unfair.


It's a sad time for the family of State Representative Naomi Jakobsson and her husband Eric, who is an Urbana alderman.

Their son, 46 year-old Garret Jakobsson, has passed away. He died Tuesday night in Mattoon in hospice care. Funeral services for Garret, who is one of the couple's eight children, are pending.

Representative Jakobsson left her son's side Tuesday to drive to Springfield to vote on gay marriage legislation. After the vote, she told the WDWS news department that the House was trying to wait for her to arrive before voting on the measure. But Jakobsson said she felt that there was enough support for the bill even if she was unable to make it to Springfield on time.

Jakobsson was the only local lawmaker from the House to vote yes on the gay marriage bill.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2013-11-06/rep-jakobssons-son-passes-away-day-same-sex-marriage-vote.html

[She got back to the hospice ten minutes after he died:]

“Everything was a little surreal,” said state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, one of Jakobsson’s close friends in the chamber.

“She had left this environment that she’d been in, kind of a waiting vigil at her son’s bedside, to come here,” Feigenholtz said. “When she looked at me [Tuesday], she said, ‘He could die while I’m here,’ and that’s exactly what happened.

“He passed away, from what I heard, 10 minutes prior to her arriving back at his nursing home,” she said.

http://www.suntimes.com/23584689-761/tears-of-sadness-joy-shed-in-wake-of-historic-same-sex-marriage-vote.html

Thank you so much for your courage and your sacrifice, Representative Jakobssen.