N.D. lawmaker killed in plane crash remembered for her ‘joyful spirit’
Liz Conmy brought ‘a seriousness of purpose to the work’
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North Dakota state representative Liz Conmy and her partner Joe Cass, a retired surgeon, began dating more than a year ago.
She called it the happiest she’s ever been.
“She was just beaming all the time when I saw her,” her son, Tommy Conmy, said.
On Saturday, the couple died in a plane crash in Brooklyn Park while Cass was flying the plane. Since then, lawmakers, close friends and family throughout North Dakota have been mourning the Fargo legislator.
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Tommy Conmy, a student at North Dakota State University, said his mom was a renaissance woman. She grew up on a farm in Langdon, N.D. and taught communications at Minnesota State University Moorhead before retirement.
“She was not one to sit around, so retirement was more of a placeholder label than than anything, and that was when she decided to get into the legislature,” he said.
Conmy, a Democrat, was in her first term in the Republican-led North Dakota House of Representatives and was running for a second term.
Fellow Democrat and House Minority Leader Zach Ista said Conmy regularly reached across the aisle.
“Liz had a real passion for the environment, for good stewardship of our state's resources [and] our state's land,” said Ista.
Conmy brought a seriousness to her job, he said, but it was rare not to see her smiling.
“Liz Conmy was one of my absolute favorite human beings in the entire state legislature,” he said. “Just really a delight to work with, a delight to be around, and somebody that's going to be greatly missed by elected leaders of both parties.”
“She was a real champion for public education, serving on our Education Committee and making sure that our students and our teachers and our families were taken care of in public education,” he added.
Her activism and work also spread outside of the legislature, too. She was a member of the Audubon Society and a board member of CATCH, a group that helps immigrants settle in rural North Dakota.
State Senator Tim Mathern helped start that group and represents the same district Conmy represented in the House. He says Conmy had a zest for life and used her background to be a better legislator.
“Just a really well-rounded person,” he said. “It's fascinating, she had this experience all the way from growing up and operating a farm to being a college professor. She was well-rounded in her relationships with people and in her education and as a lawmaker.”
Jack Sunday, a radio announcer in Fargo, has been friends with Conmy for more than 15 years and is also mourning her loss.
“I admired her so, and I will miss her,” he said. “After I heard that she had passed … I thought that we have lost a real gem, a treasure for the future of North Dakota and perhaps the country. She could have become governor. She was able to touch everybody. She was a common soul, but she wasn't common. She was an amazing person.”
Conmy asked Sunday to nominate her for a second term at the District 11 North Dakota’s Democratic-Non Partisan League Party convention.
“We have to have another one on the ballot, another name, but none will be like her,” he said, “but should all strive to be like her.”
Anastassiya Andrianova, a neighbor of many years, said Conmy encouraged her to run for a seat in the North Dakota House of Representatives. When Andrianova moved to Fargo eight years ago, Conmy was the first person she got to know in her neighborhood. And ever since, they’ve played an active role in each other’s lives.
“She was really the closest we ever had to family in the Midwest,” she said. “She was kind of an auntie to our daughter, and just a really, really great mentor.”
North Dakota sends two members from each district to its House of Representatives. When the other District 11 incumbent announced she wasn’t seeking reelection, Andrianova decided to go for it.
“That is one of the reasons why I wanted to run for office … because I saw Liz thrive and come back from Bismarck, saying, ‘You know, this is a lot of work, but it is so much fun making those connections, helping folks.’”
She was hoping she and Conmy would be travelling to the state capitol together. Now she hopes to continue her legacy.
Use the audio player at the top of this story to listen to a conversation between Andrianova and Minnesota Now host Nina Moini.
