Indiana Rep. Walorski's work called "mission" during funeral

GRANGER, Ind. (AP) — Political leaders on Thursday honored Republican U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski of Indiana as a determined advocate for her beliefs during a funeral after she and three other people were killed in a highway crash last week.

Numerous members of Congress were among several hundred mourners for the nearly two-hour service at Granger Community Church near Walorski’s northern Indiana home.

Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke about Walorski’s work as a Christian missionary in Romania with her husband, as the director of a local humane society and as a television news reporter before entering politics.

“Tell you the truth, Jackie never had a job. She always had a purpose and a mission,” McCarthy said.

Walorski, 58, was in an SUV with two members of her congressional staff on Aug. 3 when it crossed the median of a northern Indiana highway for unknown reasons and collided with an oncoming vehicle, according to the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office.

Walorski, her 27-year-old staffer Zachery Potts, of Mishawaka, who was driving, and her 28-year-old communications director, Emma Thomson, of Washington, D.C., all died, as did the woman who was driving the other vehicle.

Potts was Walorski’s district director and the Republican chairman for northern Indiana’s St. Joseph County.

Walorski was first elected to Congress in 2012 after six years in the state Legislature and was seeking reelection this year in the solidly Republican district.

Much of Walorski’s funeral highlighted her Christian faith, with her husband, Dean Swihart, an elementary school music teacher, playing saxophone with other musicians as they performed several hymns.

Republican Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri recalled becoming friends with Walorski after they first joined Congress at the...