(Editor’s note: Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan died Sunday at 69 after a battle with cancer.)

“Thirty four years of elected office, many more of consequential service, have passed far too quickly,” says Steve Hogan, the late mayor of Aurora, in what turned out sadly to be his last message. I only served with him for two of those years, the 1975 and 1976 sessions of the Colorado House of Representatives, but I remember him as a cheerful, dedicated and very capable member of our House Democratic Caucus.

Steve said “Aurora is my heart.” That was obvious even then, more than 40 years ago. While many of us serve a district or community and then move on, he basically committed all his working years to Aurora and was able to say, “She ( Aurora) has gracefully transitioned from a gateway suburb on the plains to the 54th-largest city in the country.”

Steve served in the Colorado House during a different era, one when there were disagreements but also, unlike today, laughter and friendship as well as compromise and

results. I only have one photo of Steve from those years, a photo I took in the office of then-House Speaker Ruben Valdez. The participants in this “high stakes” poker game admonished me not to use it while any of them were in office but now’s the time; it brings back the spirit and vitality of Steve Hogan and makes these words of his uniquely special. “I would respectfully encourage each person reading this message to embrace the honor of public service – continually seeking to enrich the lives of our fellow residents.”

Thank you, Steve for your service.