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Most Utahns knew Norm Bangerter only as the state's 13th governor. But mourners focused on his private life Saturday, praising him as a hardworking builder, a caring church leader and the loving patriarch of a large family.

All seven of the children he raised spoke at his funeral Saturday, as did his widow, in a simple, typical Mormon funeral.

His son Jordan said the family was offered the chance for the former governor — who died Tuesday at age 82 — to lie in state at the Utah Capitol. But that seemed out of character for a humble man.

"He didn't think himself any more important than anyone else," Jordan said.

As an example, Jordan recounted when his father was an LDS stake president overseeing a number of Mormon congregations. They went to a chapel together to check out the repainting of the parking lot. The senior Bangerter was unhappy to see that a reserved spot for him had been stenciled in. So he quickly bought some paint and covered it.

"He only got into politics because no one else would," said another son, Blair.

He said Bangerter waited until the final possible moment to file for the Legislature — where he would serve 10 years and become House speaker — hoping any other Republican in his West Valley City district would run instead. None did.

Later, Blair said, he remembers his father telling the family he had decided not to run for governor because he found someone else he wanted to support instead. But when that man dropped out, Bangerter ran — and won two terms from 1985 to 1993.

Erdman Jake, a foster son raised by Bangerter, said the governor was a true follower of Jesus Christ because Bangerter saw him hungered and gave him meat; saw him thirsty and gave him drink; and saw him as a stranger and took him in.

He said the Bangerters accepted him as a full member of the family, and all he has been able to do in life "came because of Norman, my dad, and his love for me."

Bangerter's daughter Ann Gayheart said her father was a man who "when he saw a need, he did something about it."

She told of a time when a man came to the house to leave a gift for her father. He told how her how he had been stranded at 2 a.m. in driving rain with a flat tire and no spare. Bangerter saw him in need, took him a great distance to repair the tire, and then returned with him and helped him change the tire.

All of Bangerter's children said he taught them to work hard, and all helped in his homebuilding business. Gayheart said he would wake them up everyday with the message, "Get up. It's time to go to work." She said some employees decided he made them work too hard and opted to go to college instead.

Another of Bangerter's sons, Adam, said his father had a talent for one-liners, which helped ease tension and make friends.

He remembered when the American Civil Liberties Union complained to him about double-bunking of state prisoners, his father quipped, "I double-bunk my kids and they didn't even do anything wrong."

When he was asked to offer a prayer at a meeting with a labor union, he jested, "You need to know I've been praying for you Democrats a long time."

Jordan Bangerter said his father loved to hear views from across the spectrum to help make better decisions. When one far-right politician told Bangerter he was going to retire because he could pass no legislation, Bangerter urged him not to "because it's important that your voice be heard."

Bangerter's first wife, Colleen, died in 2011. He married Judy Schiffman in January 2012. She said Bangerter "loved his family more than anything in the world."

She said the day he died was actually one of the sweetest in her life because "each one of his children gathered around Norm, and said how they loved him, how they respected them."

His daughter Alayne Isom said when Bangerter was a Mormon mission president in Johannesburg, South Africa, he brought his family there. They had a meeting and all talked of their love for one another, and shared testimonies of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

She said Bangerter told them, "When we get to heaven, this is what it will be like. And I don't want any empty chairs."

Adam Bangerter said of his father, "I hope that we would not remember him as the governor, not as a stake president, not as the mission president and not as the bishop, but as a father and as a grandfather. That is how he would have us remember him."

Elder W. Craig Zwick, a member of the LDS Church Seventy, read a letter from the faith's ruling First Presidency praising Bangerter as "an extraordinary man and an exceptional leader who achieved great success and brought honor and distinction to the great state of Utah."

"Norm's life was a Christian sermon," Zwick said. "Yes, he was a builder, but he was a builder of men."

The funeral was attended by current and former governors, members of Congress, legislators and others. Fittingly, his funeral was held just off Bangerter Highway, named in his honor as a longtime proponent for the west-county thoroughfare, at the LDS Institute Building at the Jordan Campus of Salt Lake Community College. —

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