Comm. Joan Murphy was honored at a special meeting of the Cook County Board yesterday, with family, fellow commissioners, and suburban colleagues remembering the late 79-year-old as a fiercely loyal people’s politician who built bridges and treated colleagues like family.

“To me she was always Murph,” Comm. Deborah Sims, one of Murphy’s closest friends on the board said. “We talk about how short in stature she was, but she could walk among giants. ...She will be missed, but she will never, ever be forgotten.” Black bunting was hung over the entrance to Cook County offices on the 5th floor, and her desk was covered in flowers.