When the late Sen. Regis Groff spoke, people listened, current and former lawmakers recalled Wednesday when they memorialized the man known as the
Groff, a Denver Democrat, served 20 years in the state Senate, every one of them in the minority.
Regis Groff died Oct. 5. He was 79.
“He used to say “I can count the number of bills I passed on one hand,'” said his son, former Senate President Peter Groff. Still, “He loved every minute of his service.”
Among Regis Groff’s efforts: the passage of a bill to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a state holiday.
State Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver, said when the elder Groff helped form the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, there were 14 members. Now there are more than 600.
Groff also was remembered and implored his colleagues to think of the children.
