ROME TOWNSHIP — Longtime Republican Party stalwart Harriet Scragg has died at the age of 71 at her Rome Township home.

“She was a very dedicated person to what was right,” Cheryl Jenkins, Rome Township fiscal officer, said. “She worked tirelessly in the community in many different areas. This is a big loss to our community.”

Scragg was a member of the county’s Republican Central Committee for approximately 30 years and chaired that committee for about 20 years.

“She was a good party worker,” Ray Dutey, GOP county chair, said. “She helped organize elections upriver.”

Scragg was a committee member for the LaBelle 3 precinct, a post now held by Jenkins, who was elected when Scragg chose not to run this year.

“She was a friend to everybody and always saw the humor in any situation,” Jenkins said. “That is a positive person.”

Besides her central committee positions, Scragg was the liaison for John Carey, when he served in both the state House of Representative and Senate starting in 1994 until he was named chancellor of the state university system in 2013.

“She took a lot of constituent calls for me and made sure I knew what was going on,” Carey said. “She was a great advocate for Lawrence County and very savvy at communicating people’s need. She really liked people and was just as comfortable with the governor or someone out in the country. She treated everybody the same.”

Scragg was known for her devotion to the Republican Party on local and statewide levels.

“You won’t find a stronger Republican than Harriet,” Jason Stephens, party vice chair, said. “She was very willing to share her opinion. I thought a lot of Harriet. She was a big help to me when I started in politics and gave a lot of good advice. And she was a lot of fun to be around.”

In March 2012 Scragg was appointed to the county board of elections following the appointment of then member Freddie Hayes Jr. to the county commission. She served until March of this year.

Scragg even touched those on the other side of the aisle.

“Harriet was in our community for a long time,” County Treasurer Stephen Burcham said. “She had been very involved in local activities. She was always encouraging people to get out and vote and express their opinion. She did her part in getting people out to vote.”