Dignitaries, family bid farewell to Joan Mondale

Political dignitaries joined family members at Saturday's memorial service for Joan Mondale, the wife of a former vice president who wasn't shy about stepping out on her own.

Vice President Joe Biden, former President Jimmy Carter and their spouses were at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis to pay tribute to Mondale, who died Monday at age 83 after an extended illness. Leading Minnesota officials and Japan's consul general were also at the service, which began about 12:30 p.m.

Former president Jimmy Carter said Joan Mondale's persistence was instrumental in bringing the national government into a close affinity with the fine arts.

Joan was as vocal and as present and as consistent on those aspects of people's lives ... as she seemed to be about art.

He joked that the time he spent choosing the members and directors for the national endowments for arts and humanities exceeded the time he spent on bringing peace to the Middle East.

"And so we accommodated Joan's dreams and I would say it was one of the most substantive and long-lasting impacts on the national scene that I left behind me and that Fritz left behind him," he said.

•Jimmy Carter: Joan Mondale a fervent champion of the arts

Mondale leveraged the political prominence of her husband, Walter Mondale, to focus national attention on arts and culture. He was vice president in the 1970s, a Democratic nominee for president in the 1980s and an ambassador to Japan in the 1990s.

Vice President Joe Biden told mourners that he would remember Joan Mondale as someone who was also passionate about equality.

He praised not only Joan Mondale's commitment to the arts, but also her activism.

He told Walter Mondale that his spouse was willing to push hard for proposals she believed in, even if they were unpopular.

"And she was in every fight that I can remember as I followed you in those fights on fair housing, on civil rights and on dignity for the aging," said Biden.

He called Joan Mondale a treasure and said she was the mother, grandmother and wife that everyone wished they had.

"She pushed just as hard for equal pay for women when no one talked about it. ... She was incredibly supportive of the first woman nominee that you first put on the ticket, Fritz," Biden said, looking at Walter Mondale. "Joan was as vocal and as present and as consistent on those aspects of people's lives ... as she seemed to be about art."

Biden also spoke of his friendship with the Mondales, which began in 1972. He noted that he had just lost his wife and daughter in a car accident before arriving in the U.S. Senate, where he was welcomed by Joan and Walter Mondale.

"You weren't just saying the right things. You embraced me. You included me. You brought me in," he said.

•Photos: Joan Mondale remembered

The Mondales' two sons, William and Ted, read from Scripture. So did musician Chan Poling, who was married to the couple's daughter, Eleanor. She died a few years ago after a battle with brain cancer.

Joan's two sisters were also in attendance. One, Jane Canby, described her older sister as the consummate Girl Scout, collecting badges throughout life in her pursuit of "a more civilized community."

"While she fully supported Fritz's goals and how to reach them, she also saw this as an opportunity to work on some of her own interests and projects," Canby said. "She did it with natural grace and humor."

Japan was represented by Consul General Masaharu Yoshida. Art Zegelbone, who was a U.S. cultural affairs officer in Tokyo when the Mondales occupied the embassy there, said she drew instant adoration, in part by immersing herself in local culture. An avid potter, she often gave away the cups and bowls she made as gestures of goodwill.

"All around Japan are these small testaments to Joan," Zegelbone said.

Throughout the service there were simple touches to connect with aspects of her life. The urn containing her ashes was made by Warren MacKenzie, a renowned potter whom Mondale considered a mentor. One of the remembrances was from Emily Galusha, a local clay potter close to Joan Mondale.

•Joan Mondale remembered by her pastor, Rev. Tim Hart-Andersen

Members of the Minnesota Orchestra, where she was once on the governing board, played before the service. A Japanese vocalist sang a famous Asian folk tune. The recessional was by the Macalester College Pipe Band, a campus dear to the Mondales. Joan and Walter Mondale both attended the St. Paul liberal arts school, though they were a few years apart. They met on a blind date and married soon after. Last summer, they celebrated their 58th anniversary.

•Walter and Joan Mondale -- an enduring love story