Her tears, she said, were tears of joy.

“This gives me so much joy. You don’t have any idea. Now I have peace,” said state Rep. Janet Buckner Wednesday morning from the well of the House of Representatives.

“In church, we say ‘a peace that passes all understanding,'” the Aurora Democrat added and then thanked fellow lawmakers for the unanimous vote they had just cast to add the name of her late husband, John W. Buckner, to the title of the state organ and tissue donation awareness fund.

The vote approved a surprise third-reading amendment offered by state Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, to House Bill 1027, sponsored in the House by Buckner and state Rep. Jon Becker, R-Fort Morgan, and in the Senate by state Sens. Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, and Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs. The bill heads to the Senate for consideration.

Incorporating the amendment, the legislation extends the Emily Maureen Ellen Keyes and John W. Buckner Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Fund indefinitely, as well as allowing drivers to designate themselves as organ and tissue donors on their drivers’ licenses without the status expiring.

Pabon noted that the fund had been renamed in 2007 to honor the legacy of Maureen Ellen Keyes, a victim of the 2006 Platte Canyon High School shooting and an organ donor.

“But another story emerged during the hearing,” he added.

State Rep. John Buckner, an organ donor, had died May 28, 2015, while serving his second term in the House after a career teaching in Aurora. Janet Buckner was appointed by a vacancy committee to serve the remainder of her late husband’s term and was elected to the seat in November.

“Rep. John Buckner, if you had an opportunity to know him, he would always remind you that for all the good you have been given, you should pay it forward,” Pabon continued. “And he literally did that, because he was a registered organ, eye and tissue donor, and after his death, Rep. Buckner was able to give the gift of sight to two others.”

Pabon proposed an amendment to the bill to add the name of John W. Buckner to the fund. “This has the support of the Keyes family,” he said, “and expanding this name will continue to honor Emily’s memory while representing the diverse and broad reach of organ and tissue donation and transplantation.”

After taking a moment to compose himself, Pabon continued: “From a 16-year-old white high schooler to a 67-year-old African-American state representative, the gift of life knows no bounds. People of all ages, races and backgrounds can save others through the gift of organ, eye and tissue donations.”

Becker called it a great privilege to sponsor the bill along with Buckner, noting someone had told him he would be carrying “the feel-good bill of the year.” On Wednesday, after the amendment had been approved unanimously, he said with a smile, “I don’t think there’s any doubt that this is the feel-good bill of the year.”

“There are times during session when partisanship is put aside and we all come together to acknowledge a purely inspiring moment – the passage of this bill and tribute to Rep. Buckner’s husband John was a memorable experience for all us,” Becker said later in a statement.

Buckner told lawmakers she’d been having a difficult week and had been missing her husband deeply. With a smile, she added that she’d known something was up when she saw her daughter in the chamber and wondered if she might perhaps be there to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

“Naming this fund after him is the real John Buckner, because he always gave back more than he was ever given, and he always believed that everyone should have a second chance,” she said. “And by being an organ donor, you’re giving someone that second chance.”

Shortly after her husband passed, Buckner said, she got a call from a doctor who said they were going to be able to use his corneas and optical tissues. “Talk about a blessing from God – this man, who valued his eyesight so much – I could go on and on, but John would be so thrilled,” she said, breaking into a broad smile as tears glistened on her cheeks.

“This is going to keep his vision, literally – this is going to keep his memory alive forever,” she said.

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com