Hundreds gather to remember former Congressman George R. Nethercutt Jr.

Those who knew the late George R. Nethercutt Jr. best describe him as a man more concerned with doing good than looking good, who showed courage and kindness during adversity and taught those around him to do the same.

His friends and family recalled him as the kind of congressman who a cashier could tell a dirty joke, who looked others in the eye with a warm smile and assured them to call him by his first name; a man who, when he began to struggle to speak, still asked after a caller’s kids.

Nethercutt died June 14 at age 79. Roughly 200 people, including Nethercutt’s widow and children, colleagues from decades past and notable regional politicians, filed into Gonzaga University’s John J. Hemmingson Center on Tuesday for a memorial of the “giant killer” who marked a generational shift in politics in Eastern Washington and the country.

Nethercutt, a Spokane lawyer and county Republican chairman before his rise to national politics, became one of the stars of the Republican revolution in 1994 when he defeated House Speaker Tom Foley. Nethercutt went on to serve 10 years in the House before an unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate. He later established a foundation to inspire in a new generation an appreciation for civics and government service.

Elliott Nethercutt recalled his father’s meteoric rise in politics. An early survey had found that 99% of voters in the district knew the name Tom Foley, and 3% knew the name George Nethercutt.

“The poll had a 4% margin of error,” Elliott said.

But while most who spoke to the late congressman’s legacy noted his history-making victory over Foley, the first speaker of the house to be defeated since the Civil War, most of the memories shared were of quieter moments with the husband, father and statesman.

Longtime friend and neighbor Eric Johnson recalled in 2004, during the 60th anniversary of D-Day, he and Nethercutt traveled to the American Cemetery in Normandy for a closed event attended by then-President George W. Bush and then-President of France Jacques Chirac.

After the world leaders had left, after the cameras and entourages had filed away, Nethercutt, Johnson and two other men lingered in front of a grave.

“And George stood and quietly gave his five-minute speech, acknowledging the sacrifice this man had made,” Johnson remembered. “George could not hold back the tears, and nor could we. There was no press, there were no cameras – it was the quintessential George, doing something for the right reasons.”

Elliott Nethercutt spoke to his father’s strong sense of self and deep-seated patriotism, which extended well after Nethercutt’s time in Washington, D.C., concluded. After an unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate, he set up his foundation to foster civic engagement, sponsoring tournaments for students to earn sponsored internships in D.C.

Two years ago, he published a book, “Saving Patriotism: American Patriotism in a Global Era,” in which he described an effort to educate and advocate for civic knowledge among all citizens, but particularly among millennials and Generation Z.

Meredith Krisher, Nethercutt’s daughter, noted that she was diagnosed with childhood diabetes when she was 6 years old, and that her father had taught her to respond to challenges with courage and grace. Many years later, as he struggled with a rare neurological disease that would eventually take his life, he continued to exemplify that lesson, she added.

“Dad gently encouraged me to never be a victim, to take a challenge and choose to regain power and create positivity, and to do it as best as I could with a smile,” Krisher said. “No matter the challenges the last five unimaginably difficult years brought to Dad, he was never, ever a victim.”

Johnson joined others in describing Nethercutt as a man of strong faith, a handsome, athletic man who found a nigh spiritual sense of serenity basking in the sun in an area along Priest Lake now known as Point Nethercutt and, later in life, in the garden of a care facility.

“It was then that I realized that Point Nethercutt, for George, was half physical and half spiritual,” Johnson said.