By Olivia Covington
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – Hundreds of Hoosiers gathered Friday at the Indiana Statehouse to celebrate the life of former Rep. Andy Jacobs of Indianapolis.

Steven Jacobs, son of former Rep. Andy Jacobs, speaks at his father’s funeral. Photo by Olivia Covington, TheStatehouseFile.com.

Jacobs served with the Marines during the Korean War, where he was disabled. Later, he became a representative in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1959 to 1960, and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964.  He retired from public service in 1997.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Rep. Andre Carson, 7^thDistrict, and several others remembered Jacobs during the funeral as a man who never had a bad word to say about anyone.

Jacobs was “a champion of his principles, a man with impeccable integrity,” Pence said.

“Andy Jacobs was a special kind of person. He was the kind of person who spoke from the heart, and Andy had integrity,” said Carson, who has the seat once held by Jacobs. “And more than that, he was authentic.”

Jacobs’ two sons, Steven and Andy, also spoke at the service. They remembered their father as normal dad, despite his public position.

“Everywhere we went with my dad, someone would recognize him and thank him for his service,” Steven Jacobs said. “Even though, at the time, it may have seemed like a major inconvenience at times to us as kids…I am beyond grateful for every single moment we had together.”

He was also given a military salute.

Jacobs was 81.

Olivia Covington is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.