‘We lost a giant’: Harry Reid’s memorial draws tributes from family, friends

By Jessica Hill

Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022 | 9:39 p.m.

Harry Reid would have not liked sitting through his own memorial service Saturday in downtown Las Vegas. He would have felt a little awkward.

“He didn’t like being the center of attention and felt uncomfortable when people said too many nice things about him,” former President Barack Obama told the assembled mourners at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

“As he looks down at us today,” Obama continued, “Harry is going to have to suck it up.”

Hundreds of political notables, family and friends gathered to sing the praises of Reid and pay tribute to the Nevada icon and former Senate major leader who died peacefully Dec. 28 at home in Henderson. He was 82.

Donning black attire and masks, they listened to stories from Reid’s children, who spoke earnestly about their father’s sense of humor, the time he made for them as a busy senator, and the many letters he has sent them. Lawmakers like Speaker Nancy Pelosi recalled his many phone hang-ups, as he never believed there was a need to say goodbye.

Reid, a Searchlight native, represented Nevada for 34 years in Congress, where his even-keeled approach was vital in helping broker the Affordable Care Act, thwarting a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain and fostering laws to preserve public lands and encourage clean energy investment.

His children recalled “endless games of hide-and-seek,” getting frozen custard in the summer, seeing the Osmonds in concert and going on boat rides, as well as the many moments he spent with his grandchildren.

“He was pulled in so many different directions, but when he was home he was just Papi,” daughter Lana Reid Barringer said. “Nobody loved me the way my dad loved me. He was a wonderful father who loved me unconditionally. And he always made my Mom, me and my brothers his priority. I will miss him greatly, I will love him forever, and I’m grateful that families are forever.”

Reid’s son Rory shared a story about walking in the hills of Searchlight with his dad, who was carrying a flashlight in the dark. They came upon an old mine shaft and peered in. Reid shined the flashlight, and the pair saw two red eyes staring at them. It was a rat, who scurried away.

Reid could tell his son was anxious, so he took two of his son’s fingers and put them through his own belt loop, saying “stay close,” before they entered to explore.

“What I will cherish most and never forget,” Rory said, “is what I saw in the private, quiet moments that I was privileged to share close with the Nevada giant.”

Leif Reid, one of his other sons, said the family was together the day before his father died helping him ease the pain. Music was the only thing that would help, he said.

“Bob Dylan? No response. Bruce? No. Then we said, ‘Brandon.’ He smiled and gave a huge thumb’s up,” Leif Reid said of Nevada native Brandon Flowers of The Killers. “That was the last musical request he had.”

At the memorial, Flowers performed “Be Still” as a photo taken through a cracked door of Harry Reid sitting at his desk was displayed above.

The lyrics include the words, “Don’t break character. You’ve got a lot of heart. …

“Labor until the work is done.”

Flowers, who at the end of the ceremony led the mourners in singing “Home Means Nevada,” said he first met Reid in 2009 for a tour of the U.S. Capitol. Reid waved for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to come over, and he had Flowers sing the Nevada state song.

Schumer recalled the time in 2012 during the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., when Reid summoned him to his hotel room late at night. When Schumer arrived, Reid’s wife, Landra, was in the room as well. Reid pulled him aside into the hotel bathroom and pulled out a wad of cash, slipping four $100 bills to Schumer.

“Reid said, ‘You need to dress better. Please buy some better shoes,’” Schumer remembered.

House Speaker Pelosi, D-Calif., paused on stage to bow before Reid’s casket, draped with an American flag, before continuing to the lectern. She remembered when Reid announced his retirement, he walked into her office with a gift to remember him by: a massive, stuffed bald eagle.

“Shocked, I said, ‘Harry, did you go hunting and kill an endangered species?’ He said, ‘no. He died flying into a powerline and I called him Sparky,’ ” Pelosi recalled.

Pelosi said Reid became one of the most celebrated and consequential Senate leaders during his three decade career in Washington.

“He never forgot his North Star, to fight for working families like his own,” she said.

And equally important, “He did everything he could to ensure Nevada’s voice was heard,” she said.

President Joe Biden said every time he hears a dial tone, he thinks of Reid, who would, of course, hang up on their telephone conversations without saying goodbye.

“Harry would always have your back. Harry had mine, and he knew I had his,” Biden said and added jokingly, “although I sometimes wondered if he really did have my back as he hung up.”

Reid’s story was “unmistakably American,” Biden said, as Reid grew up hitchhiking to school, climbing the political ladder to shape and transform the country. It is a remarkable journey that has been told by many because it has been traveled by few, Biden said.

“We lost a giant, America,” Biden said. “A plainspoken, honorable, decent, brave, unyielding man. May this be his legacy. Call on each of us to be our best, to speak truth from the heart, take up the remaining rounds from Harry Reid’s good fight for the America we all love.”

Singer Carole King, one of Reid’s friends, sat at the piano and sang “In the Name of Love.” “Do the things you believe in, in the name of love and know that you aren’t alone,” she sang.