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Pittsburghers Pay Final Respects To Lt. Gov. Knoll

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Nov 23, 2008 7:01 pm US/Eastern

Pittsburghers Pay Final Respects To Lt. Gov. Knoll

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― She served western Pennsylvania as a teacher, business woman and politician, and today the body of late Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll was brought to Pittsburgh for the funeral service later this week.

This afternoon the public got a chance to say a final goodbye. Hundreds came to St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland to view the casket and offer their condolences to Lt. Gov. Knoll's family.

Late this afternoon, with her family standing by, an honor guard made up of the State Capitol Police, Pennsylvania State Police and the Pennsylvania Army and Air National Guard carried the casket into St. Paul Cathedral.

Pittsburgh jazz musician Harold Betters was one of hundreds to line up to pay respect to Knoll during the five hours her body lay in repose.

"Catherine has been so generous to me," said Betters. "She loved everybody. I can't say enough about her."

The notables and those of political power stood next to the regular folks who didn't so much come to pay final respects to the Lt. Governor as they did to say goodbye to Cathy from the Rocks.

"She loved McKees Rocks, or the Rocks, as we call it," said Knoll's niece, Karla Bowman.

"The last time I was in Harrisburg she invited me into her office, much to the envy of those I was with, they said, 'What made you so special?'" said 99-year-old Lillian Griffin Allen.

District Justice Gene Riccardi said he met Knoll when he was just 19 and she was all about the common touch.

"I can tell you stories about her walking down the street and her passing out dollar bills to everyone. She started working at a restaurant. She started working in a hotel in the Rocks. She started out with humble roots," he said.

Today, there were those who knew Lt. Gov. Knoll, but many more who never met her and always felt Cathy from the Rocks knew them and was always on their side and for those individuals that will always her legacy.

"She wasn't your normal high dollar politician," said Lynn Wesley, of Pittsburgh. "She had courage in her convictions and stuck to what she believed in."

Lt. Gov. Knoll's funeral will be held Tuesday at noon at St. Paul Cathedral. Her burial will be private.


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