As the sun shone through the leaves of the trees Friday morning at St. Theodore Catholic Cemetery, friends and family of the late Roger Bok gathered to pay their final respects to the man who worked diligently for honesty and accountability in local governments.

Around 11 a.m. Friday, a couple dozen people stood by Bok’s gravesite, as the Rev. Jim Berning gave a short funeral service. It ended with a 21-gun salute and the playing of “Taps.”

Bok died last Sunday from a heart attack.

Nearly everyone in Albert Lea knew the 76-year-old man — many because of his vocal opposition to the Albert Lea City Council. He had attended Albert Lea City Council meetings for about 18 years, speaking at nearly every meeting.

As soon as he would approach the podium during the public forum portion of the meetings, he would state his name and address, 1012 Cato Drive, and then begin to bring up several points of discourse, even if the rules only allowed him to bring up one at a time.

While speaking in front of the council he would constantly bring up parts of the city charter that differed from his 1960s version that he kept in a binder with other newspaper articles and paperwork. The most updated version of the charter was in 1994.

In addition to council meetings, Bok attended the Freeborn County Board of Commissioners meetings diligently for 11 years and ran for mayor of Albert Lea in the early 1990s.

Born Jan. 31, 1932, in Freeborn County, he attended St. Theodore Catholic School and Albert Lea High School.

After served in the United States Navy, he worked for Wilson & Co., Freeborn Construction, Albert Lea Auto Salvage and Harold’s Bar.

In an interview with the Tribune in September of 2007, Bok joked that he didn’t do anything in life during his later years other than “irritate the elected officials.”