Todd Hardy's penchant for guidance and leadership was evident just five days before the former Yukon NDP leader died at 4:38 last Wednesday morning in his downtown home.

Following a heavy rain, family members were travelling to a tea house his children are building for his wife, Louise, on their Yukon River property in Whitehorse. Their Jeep became stuck in the mud plaguing the access road.

"Todd directed the rescue,”said family friend Heather MacFadgen, who, with husband Rod Snow, gave the eulogy Sunday afternoon for the late MLA for Whitehorse Centre.

After finally arriving at the semi-completed building, "Todd pointed out what needed to be done, and then celebrated with scotch,” MacFadgen said.

The anecdote was one of several that unleashed laughter or tears, or prompted hushed silence among the 400 people who jammed a sweltering Mt. McIntyre Recreation Centre. Many stood at the back of the room, while more people, under a blazing sun, listened to a sound feed piped outside the building's doors.

Snow described his friend as a "valient and courageous man ... a husband, son, farm boy, goalie, coach, teacher, black belt, neighbour, socialist ....”

"Communist!” interrupted MacFadgen, as gales of laughter erupted.

Hardy was a man without an inflated sense of self-importance, Snow added.

"He only walked on water when it was frozen ... he was proud to be a working man; he had no pretensions.”

MacFadgen told her listeners that Hardy believed anything was possible if it was the right thing to do.

She described him as someone "who personified grace and grit; a man who lived by his principles, told the truth and helped others, and did his part to make this a better world for all of us.

"... He taught all of us to love and be loved.”

Hardy embraced J.S. Woodsworth's famous saying: "What we desire for ourselves we want for all,” she added.

By early February, Snow said, it had become clear that Hardy could not survive his leukemia, and friends began visiting the family's home to say goodbye.

"Todd and Louise decided he would go off the drugs, and he rallied,” Snow recalled. "The man who once couldn't climb the stairs to his own bed was out driving around, and gardening.”

Hardy loved the reaction he received when he walked into the legislature for the past spring's session.

"It was, he said, as if he had risen from the dead,” MacFadgen said.

The Hardy home was a frequent place for large gatherings, she added – "a loving and wonderful place .... Todd would relax and mingle while Louise cooked.”

As a father of four, Snow said, Hardy worried about his children, now young adults.

"He revelled in their many accomplishments .... He was proud of you all.”

The younger Hardys' availability to comfort their father through the final stages of his life "was a great gift you gave to him,” Snow said.

Todd and Louise, who were childhood sweethearts, "supported each other through the ups and downs” of family and political life, he added. (Louise was the territory's NDP MP from 1997 to 2000.)

Added MacFadgen: "When I met them many years later, they seemed to be soulmates.”

After Todd became ill in 2006, she said, the bond between the couple only deepened. "It was the closest two people could become in loving and caring for each other.”

Toward the end, Snow told the mourners, Hardy "did consider eternity.

" ... He said he could do the hard work of dying because he was surrounded by good people....

"Todd took this world into his arms and made it real .... Farewell, dear friend.”

Daughter Tess Hardy said her father "taught his children to live life with compassion and stand up for our beliefs, and to forgive.”

Though Hardy could frequently prompt eye-rolling and arguments when conversing with his children, she added, "he was always there to pick us up when we fell down.

"Over the last four years, we truly saw his strength ... he continued to live life to the fullest and considered cancer a sideline .,.. Letting Dad go was the hardest thing I had

to do.”

Recently, Tess added, "he sat beside me and he gave me one last lecture on how many horses I have .... I see him every day when I look outside to see my horses at play or just standing there.”

A host of current and former MLAs and cabinet ministers of all parties turned out for the event.

They included former premier Tony Penikett, who now lives in Vancouver, former premier Pat Duncan, former government leader Piers McDonald, former Yukon MP Audrey McLaughlin, current MP Larry Bagnell and Commissioner Geraldine Van Bibber.

Premier Dennis Fentie arrived from Watson Lake to honour his former caucus mate, while Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell cut short a trip to the U.S. to attend the funeral.

Mourners sang Amazing Grace as the late MLA's casket was wheeled out of the room and back into a waiting white hearse.

Earlier, there were performances of the songs songs I Can See Clearly Now and What a Wonderful World.

Hardy's remains will be cremated, the family said.