HELENA — It is a rare honor to lie in state at the Montana State Capitol. This week, Montana’s longest consecutive-serving U.S. House of Representatives member, Pat Williams, is receiving that honor.
Williams will lie in state at the Montana Capitol until 11 a.m. on July 3, 2025. The viewing in the rotunda of the People’s House is open to all.
(Whitney Williams talks about the impact her father made on Montana and the country)
His family was in attendance on Tuesday and reflected on the impact he made on Montana and his country.
“He was so kind, and he worked so hard to bring people together," said his daughter Whitney Williams. "That was a time, especially in America when Dad was serving, that people did work together to get things done for folks. And I think that that is very present, that remembrance of him. I hope that it serves as a bit of inspiration for us, that we can get along and that we can be kind and that we can work together.”
Some of the people paying their respects Wednesday had worked with Williams, some were friends of the Williams family, and some said they simply wanted to honor a leader they respected.
Katherine Tutty’s late husband Tom was a longtime friend of Williams, having gone to school with him in Butte.
“Whenever you saw him, he always had a smile and a good word for you,” Tutty said of Williams. “It was usually a little joke about when they were growing up.”
Carol Daus and her husband Tony drove over from Missoula. They met Williams while living next door to Whitney Williams.
“Very approachable and very concerned about you as a person,” Daus said. “In today's world of politics, you don't see that as much, so it was very refreshing to have those kinds of conversations with him.”
Williams, a Democrat, served 18 years in Congress and was Montana’s longest consecutive-serving U.S. House of Representatives member.
He was proudly from Butte, having been raised in the Mining City. He was a teacher and a member of the Montana National Guard. In 1965, he married Carol Griffith Williams. Carol was the first woman to serve as both Montana Senate Majority and Minority Leader.
In 1967, Williams represented Butte in the Montana State House of Representatives, serving two terms in the legislature. He then worked as the executive assistant to Congressman John Melcher, D-Montana. In 1974, Williams ran an unsuccessful primary election campaign against future Ambassador and U.S. Senator Max Baucus, D-Montana, for the Democratic Party nomination. In 1978, Montanans elected Williams to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served for nine terms.
While in Congress, Williams pushed for public lands protections, advocated for benefits for working-class families, and championed federal arts funding, among other efforts. Williams has been credited as playing a key role in saving the National Endowment for the Arts. Williams sponsored the Children with Disabilities Act of 1987, which he named after his god-daughter Keough Duffy.
Upon his retirement from Congress in 1997, Williams returned to Montana, where he resumed his role as a teacher at the University of Montana.
After lying in state, Williams will be transported to Butte for a private family burial.
The Williams family will host a celebration of life in Missoula on Tuesday, July 15 at 4 p.m. at the Dennison Theater at UM followed by a reception at 5:30 pm also on campus. Doors will open at 3 p.m.
Memorials can be made to the Pat Williams Artists Scholarship at the University of Montana or The Williams Family Fund.
In honor of Congressman Williams, Gov. Greg Gianforte ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at all state buildings on July 2 and 3.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated with additional quotes.
