In early October the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein returned to City Hall in San Francisco — the place where she began her rise to political prominence. Her body was returned to San Francisco on a military flight. She died September 29th in her Washington, D.C., home at the age of 90 of natural causes. Instead of lying in state in the U.S. Capitol, as many prominent senators have done, Feinstein’s casket sat beneath the City Hall dome, where members of the public paid their last respects. Her casket, draped in an American flag, was carefully lifted from the hearse by six uniformed police, sheriff’s deputies and firefighters and carried up the steps into City Hall.
The following day San Francisco bid farewell to Dianne Feinstein in a memorial service which celebrated a life of public service, one that bashed through multiple glass ceilings in her native city, as well as the nation’s capital.
Feinstein’s service to the city began in 1969 when she was elected to the Board of Supervisors.
Less than 10 years later, she would raise her right hand to become Mayor hours after the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, a day she told the local newspaper, she remembered like it was yesterday.
She would remain in public service for much of the 16,378 days since, her tenure so lengthy, the city began to memorialize her long before her death, with a bronze bust in City Hall and a namesake school in the Sunset neighborhood.
“Today she is home with her family and with her supporters and with the people that really love her,” said Supervisor Connie Chan, shortly after signing her family book of condolences. “This is really, in my humble opinion, where she belongs. She loved San Francisco, and San Francisco loves her right back.”
