The Oregon Legislature celebrated the life of Peter Courtney on Wednesday. Courtney was the longest-serving legislator and Senate president in Oregon history.

Oregon bid farewell to the state’s longest-serving legislator in the Senate chamber that the late Peter Michael Coleman Courtney presided over for 20 years and loved more than anything but his family.

About 200 dignitaries, former colleagues, friends and family who crowded into the Senate chamber on Wednesday cried a little and laughed a lot as a host of speakers described the compassionate, cantankerous man who dedicated his life to serving his adopted state.