The Rev. Steve Rowe remembers the last time he saw Ruthe Pagurko.

It was, naturally, at the First Baptist Church. The two had joked around previously regarding whether they cared for each other. Then came that last meeting.

“I told her I loved her, and she turned around and she was halfway down the steps in the foyer, and she said, ‘I love you too,” Rowe said. “Those were the last words we ever spoke to each other.”

Tuesday’s funeral service for Pagurko was nearly finished as Rowe spoke. Then, things became even more difficult for the pastor, as he asked the large gathering to bow their heads for a closing prayer.

He weeped as he told the gathering “how tremendously we will miss Ruthe.”

Pagurko, a city councilor, volunteer and devoted mother and grandmother, passed away in her sleep at her Mechanic Street home last Friday. She was 63.

Many dozens of people turned out at the historic Bath church for Tuesday’s services, including members of the city’s police and fire departments in dress uni- forms and city officials who worked alongside her.

Pagurko’s daughters, Jennifer and Jamie, were among family members paying their respects.

Jamie and Lessie White are the parents of Sophie White, 4, and Lessie White III, 2; while Jennifer and Kevin Becze are the parents of 22- month-old twin daughters, Isabella and Madelyn.

Prior to the service, the Whites teared up as they explained why their children couldn’t be there.

“Sophie didn’t want to come,” said Lessie White II, his voice trembling.

Jamie White described her mother as “one of a kind.”

“She was lovingly known as ‘Foofy,’” she said. “The kids couldn’t say ‘Ruthe.’”

Jennifer Becze, two years older than her sister, recalled high school days.

“She had more time for us than we wanted some times,” Becze said with a chuckle. “She could have done the cheerleading squad with Jamie and the track squad with me. You could hear her from a mile away, yelling, ‘Run, Jamie, run!’”

Jamie White’s mother-inlaw, City Clerk Mary White, said prior to the service that her son and Pagurko’s daughter actually met at City Hall.

Mary White also had vivid remembrances of Pagurko.

“She tired me out just thinking of all the stuff she was in,” she said. “It was like there were five Ruthes instead of one. She always had her appointment book with her, and it was full.”

In front of the church altar, Pagurko laid in an open casket.

During the service, Rowe praised Pagurko’s faith.

“Ruthe, just the other day, because of her faith in Jesus Christ our savior, went home to be with Jesus,” he said.

Pagurko’s sister, Pat Donahue, sat with her children, Justin Donahue and Wendy Sevene. Both read poems.

Barbara Garrett sang a stirring rendition of “You Raise Me Up.”

Three women from Pagurko’s Mechanic Street neighborhood — Carol Goulette, Fotini Eberhard and Wendy Reed — added levity.

Eberhard described the Mechanic Street ladies as a tight bunch that shared great times together, including the annual Christmas party that was a highlight of their year.

Scheduling the party with Pagurko, she said, posed a bit of a challenge.

“Our first call was always to Ruthe,” Eberhard said. “Her calendar was always full.”

The three were together the night before the funeral.

“We were sitting around the kitchen table wondering, who’s going to make the lemon delight,” Reed said.

lgrard @timesrecord.com