This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

She sometimes battled hard with the Senate, but senators reverently gave final approval Thursday to name the House Building on Capitol Hill for former House Speaker Becky Lockhart.

Senators voted 26-0 to pass HB322, and sent it to Gov. Gary Herbert for his possible signature. It will be the first time that a state-owned building at the Capitol complex will be named for an individual.

Lockhart "was a unique kind of leader. She wasn't heavy handed. She didn't dictate. She didn't let her own agenda drive the process," said Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, a close family friend of Lockhart, and Senate sponsor of the bill.

Lockhart, R-Provo, left the Utah House at the end of 2014 after serving 16 years in the body and becoming the first woman to serve as speaker. At the end of her term, however, she began suffering from disorientation, failing motor skills and eventually an inability to speak or swallow.

She was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, an extremely rare and always lethal degenerative neurological disorder. Lockhart died in January 2015 at age 46.

­— Lee Davidson