NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Just two weeks ago, Mayor Richard Alcombright had sent an email to his representative asking for a House resolution for an event. 

 

On Monday, state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi's aide brought it to his office. 

 

It might seem an everyday thing, but what many didn't know was that Cariddi had taken a sudden turn for the worse in her battle against cancer in these last weeks. She died Saturday at age 63 at Massachusetts General Hospital.  

 

But making sure that mundane task was completed showed the type of person she was, Alcombright said at her wake on Wednesday night. She was continuing to do the work for her constituents even as she was fighting the illness that claimed her life. 

 

"She was for the people," he said. "She didn't have any 'special interests.'"

 

The most frequent comment was that the North Berkshire community had a large hole in it now that would be difficult to fill. 

 

"She literally gave her life for everybody else. Her family, her business, her community, the city and commonwealth," said Margaret Ware, former Williamstown selectman. "She was amazing person."

 

Jocye Wrend and Diane Parsons, who both served on the City Council with Cariddi, said she was always on top of things, always working.

 

Parsons said even in her last week they were talking about a bill she was working on, and that Speaker Robert DeLeo said she was still sending him information. "She was a rare breed," she said. "Politics used to be fun and Gail and I were at it for a long time and it was still fun when we were doing it."

 

"She was so damned smart, she was so intelligent, she knew what she wanted and went and she got it," said Wrend, who described her as a mentor. 

 

Ware, who's been involved in local and Democratic state politics, said there weren't and still aren't many women in politics here.  

 

"So we were all friends and we all supported one another," she said. 

 

She was also fun loving, they said, with Parsons recalling a trip to Cape Cod to help clear out an unusual amount of snow at Cariddi's house there. 

 

"My best memory of her is when we cross country skied on the beach in Harwichport in January," she laughed. 

 

"I've never forget the fun we had when she wast still around," Wrend said. "I could tell you stories ... but I won't."

 

For four hours on Wednesday evening, family, friends, constituents and local officials passed by the photos of Cariddi in happier times that were displayed inside St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church. They signed the books and read the cards with the bouquets of flowers from the people she'd touched and the many, many agencies and organizations she'd helped over her long career in public service. And they shared their memories. 

 

"The outpouring has been tremendous," her sister, Antoinette Cariddi, said. 

 

An honor guard of state police officers stood at the doors and by the urn containing Cariddi's cremains at the altar. Across the from the church on a closed section of Marshall Street, the ladder trucks from North Adams and Adams flew a giant American flag under breezy skies. 

 

The members of the City Council on which Cariddi had served for more than 20 years, came in together to pay respects. They were followed not long after by a long line of uniformed police officers, firefighters and ambulance personnel from the city and surrounding communities. 

 

In Boston, the House started Wednesday's session with memories about their colleague, whose vacant desk held memorial flowers. According to State House News Service, DeLeo had visited her in the hospital on Friday to tell her how much she was loved and would be missed. 

 

Cariddi's funeral will be Thursday at 11 a.m. from St. Elizabeth's.