Knoll Crashes Fallen Soldier’s Funeral to Hand out Business Cards

Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich, 32, was a second-generation Marine living in the Westwood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when he decided to enlist in the Marine Corps to serve his country in Iraq. He had been a high school wrestler at Central Catholic, and worked for a couple of years as a policeman in Indiana, Pa., before deciding to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the Marines. According to all of his friends, family, and former comrades in arms, Goodrich was a clean-cut, all-American hero who was fighting for freedom in the town of Hit in western Iraq when he was killed by mortar fire. Goodrich’s funeral was held last week in Carnegie, where the assembly was packed with Marines in dress uniforms and police officers, along with numerous grieving family members and friends. And then an unexpected, uninvited, unwelcome visitor appeared.

Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll sat down next to a member of Goodrich’s family and waited for her moment. During the distribution of communion, Knoll broke the silence by whispering to the family member, "Who are you?" Upon hearing the answer, Knoll handed the family member one of her business cards and said, "I want you to know our government is against this war." Yes, she actually did say that. And no matter how you feel about the war, saying something like that to a relative mourning someone they love who just died in combat is disgusting and repulsive.

After recovering from this shocking affront to the respect and dignity Joseph Goodrich had certainly earned by his courageous and honorable death, Goodrich’s family was furious with Knoll for showing up uninvited and turning the funeral into a campaign rally for anti-war sentiments. Joseph Goodrich’s sister-in-law, Rhonda Goodrich of Indiana, Pa., told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the family felt they were owed an apology—at the very least—for the insensitivity and disrespect shown by an elected official who had no business being at the funeral in the first place. "Knoll felt this was an appropriate time to campaign and impose her will on us," Rhonda Goodrich said. "I am amazed and disgusted Knoll finds a Marine funeral a prime place to campaign."

The family of the fallen Marine sought an answer from Gov. Ed Rendell’s administration about whether or not it opposes the fighting in Iraq, but so far Rendell has avoided the direct question by saying that he hadn’t spoken to Knoll about what happened. He said that written apologies would be sent to the Goodrich family and added, "It's not the business of state government to support the war, but our state supports the men and women who are fighting this war." An aide at the governor’s office, feebly attempting to smooth over the tensions surrounding the incident, told reporters, "The family members of fallen soldiers are in our hearts and prayers. Our prayers go out to their loved ones in their hour of grief." It should come as no surprise that Knoll herself has said nothing about her stupid and boorish behavior, either in public or to the Goodrich family directly.

Rhonda Goodrich said in a phone interview with a reporter that the funeral service was packed with people "who wanted to tell his family how Joe had impacted their lives." And Lt. Gov. Knoll took it upon herself to try to tell his family that his death was pointless. "Our family deserves an apology," Rhonda Goodrich said. "Here you have a soldier who was killed—dying for his country—in a church full of grieving family members, and she shows up uninvited. It made a mockery of Joey's death."