Services for Phil Batt set for Friday morning

March 8, 2023

Former Idaho Governor Phil Batt's body will be transferred to the Idaho capitol in a ceremony at 10 a.m. Thursday. The Idaho Army National Guard Band will perform honors and, weather permitting, there will be a flyover by the Idaho Air National Guard. Governor Brad Little will lead the Capitol service, with remarks by former governors Butch Otter and Dirk Kempthorne and U.S. Senator Jim Risch.

Governor Batt, who passed away peacefully on his 96th birthday March 4, will lie in state in the capitol rotunda until 10 a.m. Friday.

At 11 a.m. Batt's funeral service will begin at the Cathedral of the Rockies, 717 North 11th Street, Boise, after which a procession of family and invited friends will be led by the Idaho State Police to the Wilder Cemetery for a private burial service.

Phil Batt was born in Wilder in 1927. He served in the Idaho House from 1965 to 1967 and in the Senate from 1967 to 1979. He was lieutenant governor from 1979 to 1983, having made a failed bid for governor in 1982, returned to the Idaho Senate from 1984 to 1988, when he was appointed by governor Cecil Andrus to serve on the Idaho Transportation Board. He served as Chair of the Idaho Republican Party from 1991 to 1993 and won the governorship in 1994, choosing to served a single term, despite enjoying high popularity.

The public is invited to the capitol ceremony and to his funeral service.

Flags will be restored to full staff at sunrise Saturday.