TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma honored its first Black mayor, Harold G. Moss, with a memorial service and procession through the streets of the community he served for decades.
Moss died in September after a long illness, according to his family.
Moss became the city's first Black council member in 1970, and was elected three more times, according to the city of Tacoma.
In 1994, he became Tacoma's first Black mayor, and then Pierce County's first Black county council member in 1996.
“I would not be the mayor of Tacoma if there had not been a Harold Moss,” said current Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, who is the third Black person to serve as the city’s mayor.
Woodards first met Moss in the 1990s. She was his assistant when he was a county council member.
“I love you, and hope I have made you proud,” Woodards said.
Moss helped found the Tacoma Urban League and The Black Collective, a Tacoma and Pierce County civic engagement group.
Most of the guests at Moss’s private memorial service sat in their cars, due to social distancing restrictions.
Following the service, Tacoma Police Department motorcycles lead a procession of Moss’ casket, and his friends and family through Tacoma.
The route included a crossing of the Harold G. Moss Bridge on East 34th Street.
The memorial service was streamed live on Facebook.