LYNNWOOD
M.J. “Herk” Hrdlicka’s greatest passion was his city.
Colleagues, family and friends shared smiles and stories Thursday night, Jan. 29, to remember the former Lynnwood mayor, who died the morning of Dec. 19.
“He liked a good time. He would not want this to be a somber affair,” said Linda Alvar, Hrdlicka’s friend and coworker for many years in Lynnwood.
Hrdlicka served as mayor for 25 years before leaving the post in 1993.
He passed away at the age of 83.
His vision of Lynnwood as a business center helped develop the mall at Alderwood and many of the city’s parks and buildings.
Hrdlicka’s leadership also led to the creation of SnoCom, one of the county’s emergency dispatch systems, and a paramedic network known as Medic 7.
“Lynnwood is a prosperous, growing city because he determined it could be,” said longtime friend Steve Dwyer, a state Court of Appeals judge. “He was the George Washington of Lynnwood.”
Hrdlicka would have liked Thursday’s warm gathering of friends and coworkers, Dwyer said. “While it would not be important to him that we are here to say ‘Thank you,’ it would be important that we admire the results of his work.”
About 300 people bowed their heads, many of them gray, in prayer in memory of Hrdlicka.
“It’s amazing how many people wanted to honor Herk for all his years of service,” Alvar said.
Posters with photographs documenting the mayor’s life were set up along the wall.
One board, with the words “respect,” “honor,” “mayor,” was filled with pictures of Hrdlicka playing golf.
Another one, reading “Herk’s other passion,” sported old photos of kids in football uniforms, smiling.
Hrdlicka had coached a youth football league for years, making an impact on many kids’ lives, Alvar said.
“He was the happiest around kids,” she said.
But Hrdlicka’s greatest passion was the city, said Tina Roberts-Martinez, another former Lynnwood mayor.
“Herk had a mistress: It was the city,” Roberts-Martinez said in her speech. “He truly has left his legacy here.”
Roberts-Martinez described Hrdlicka as a man of integrity who cared deeply about his community. “He may have not always agreed with you, but he did listen,” she said.
People who had worked for Hrdlicka over the years always respected and trusted him, said Alvar, who had worked for the mayor for 20 years. “He loved his employees and treated them as equals,” she said.
Hrdlicka was a modest man and never played “the mayor card,” Alvar said.
The two were good friends.
“When my daughter married, he gave her way because he was like a father to her,” Alvar said.
She laughed remembering how Hrdlicka hated to be called by his legal first name, Meryl.
Most people just called him “Herk” or “Mr. Herk.”
Gail Mueller and Crystal Oliveira are glad they got to know Hrdlicka.
“He was one of a kind,” Oliveira said with a sad smile.
“I don’t think there’ll ever be another mayor who will love this city as much as he did,” Mueller said.
Katya Yefimova is a reporter with The Herald of Everett
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