Former Congressman Ramstad’s Memorial Service will be live-streamed Sunday November 29 at 4pm.

Former Congressman’s Memorial Service will be live-streamed
Sunday November 29 at 4pm.

Wayzata Community Church has announced that the family of Congressman Jim Ramstad has invited the public to watch the former Congressman’s memorial service online via the church’s website.

The service begins at 4pm Sunday November 29.
Jim Ramstad served in the Minnesota Senate from 1981 to 1990 and 9 terms in Congress retiring in 2009.  Ramstad was considered a moderate Republican representing voters in Minnesota Congressional District 3 which includes Eden Prairie. 

Many of Ramstad’s well attended town hall meetings were held in the Eden Prairie City Council Chamber.  He was among the leading forces in Washington to get the Mental Health Parity Bill passed into law in December, 2008 and supported stem cell research and gay rights, but not gay marriage.

Ramstad, an advocate for addiction treatment and recovery services, had been a resident fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics where headed The Policy and Politics of Addiction study group.  He had also served as an advisor to the Hazelden Foundation, the National Association of Drug Court Professionals and the alliant group. 

According to his obituary notice in the StarTribune, Jim and his wife Kathryn were active members of Wayzata Community Church.  The obituary also said the following, “Jim’s political philosophy was guided by a fundamental belief in the importance of working in a bipartisan, pragmatic, common sense way to solve problems.”

Jim Ramstad was born in Jamestown, North Dakota on May 6, 1946 and died peacefully at his Wayzata home on November 5, 2020.  In recent years, the obituary noted, Ramstad was living with Parkinson’s disease with Lewy Body, but celebrated his 39th year of sobriety shortly before passing.