Indiana health care advocate Paul Chase embodied kindness

“Kindness wins.”

That was the theme of the Wednesday memorial service for Paul Chase, a longtime Hoosier advocate for social justice.

That kindness quote can be attributed to Caitlin Priest, one of Paul’s colleagues at the organization Covering Kids and Families of Indiana, a leader in the ongoing campaign to gain much-needed healt hcare for all Hoosiers. But the other speakers at the service, including Paul’s friends and family, echoed the same sentiment.

They reflected on Paul’s lifetime of fighting for the rights of the sick, the marginalized, and the poor. They praised Paul’s pioneering work on behalf of people with HIV/AIDS, insisting that his advocacy saved thousands of lives.

They talked about his subsequent work on behalf of civil rights, improved living conditions for seniors, and protection of the environment. For over three decades, Paul deployed a rare combination of charisma and tireless work ethic to argue the cause for those in the most need.

At the memorial service, state Rep. Ed Clere noted that we gathered 50 years to the day from when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law. We are celebrating the life of a real champion of equality, he said.

In their remarks, Paul’s loved ones usually drifted away from advocacy talk, circling back to straightforward appreciation for what a genuinely good person he was. They shared stories about the compassion and gentle humor he shared with everyone whose lives he touched.

A family member said Paul was the most mindful and emotionally intelligent person he had ever known. Paul made us all better, a colleague agreed. You just did not want to be a jerk around him, she said, because he would never act that way. Hundreds of Paul’s friends in attendance, me included, nodded in understanding.

Paul would not have wanted sadness at his service, his close friend Kathryn Williams had told us in her introduction. So we tried to stay positive.

But we could not help mourning the fact that Paul died in a car accident the very day that a U.S. district court judge ruled that Indiana must allow same-sex couples to marry. Paul and Terry Briner never had the chance to legally solemnize their 40-year partnership that served as a loving model for their friends and families.

That cruel timing was a reminder. Although Paul is no longer with us to push for justice, the campaigns he waged are not yet complete.

At the end of the service, Williams read a letter from Paul’s mother, Lorraine, who was not able to take the podium herself. “Good luck to all of you who continue to fight the good fight,” she wrote.

Message received, both from Mrs. Chase and from the life example provided by her son.

Paul has done his part. If kindness truly is to win out, others will need to take up the struggle now.

Quigley is a clinical professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis.