Gov. Mark Dayton proclaims Tuesday "Linda Scheid Day"

Senator Linda Scheid began her career in Minnesota politics in 1976.

​At sunrise tomorrow morning, all the flags at state and federal buildings throughout Minnesota will be ceremonially lowered to half-staff.

That's because Tuesday has been proclaimed "Linda Scheid Day," in honor of the Brooklyn Park senator. She died on June 15, after discontinuing chemotherapy for ovarian cancer.

Scheid first entered state politics as a House representative in 1976, then took a seat in the Senate representing Brooklyn Park. Consumer protection issues were dear to her, as was battling antiquated liquor laws.

She was thrust into the media spotlight quite a bit over the past couple of months as she and Surly Brewing Co. owner Omar Ansari fought together to pass the Surly bill that allows brewers to sell their own pints.

Tom Olmscheid via Facebook

​Scheid was first diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1999. In 2007 she announced that it had spread to her ovaries. As the Surly bill was inching toward passage this spring, she found out that she was no longer responding to treatment, and decided to stop chemotherapy. Though she lived to see Dayton sign the bill in late May, she would soon enter hospice care, and she died just a day shy of her 69th birthday. She also missed the brewery party on June 18 in her honor by just a couple of days.

Governor Dayton issued the proclamation today, honoring her years as a state representative (1977-79 and 1983-91) and as a state senator (1997-2011). It reads, in part:

Linda Scheid was a leader on many issues, including consumer protection, education equity, campaign finance reform, organ donation, tax fairness, business regulatory reform, economic development, and health care reform--most notably ensuring that oral chemotherapy drugs are affordable and accessible.

You can check out the entire proclamation here.

Dayton is also attending the public memorial service for the senator, which will take place tomorrow at the Brooklyn Park Community Activity Center. Both champagne and Surly will be served, per Scheid's request.

"We're going to send her off in style!!!" her son Scott wrote on Facebook.