Glowing personal tributes to a founding father of the Progressive Labour Party who later represented the United Bermuda Party were paid in the House of Assembly yesterday.A special two-hour session was held to commemorate lawyer Arnold Francis, the first Bermudian to become a Queen’s Counsel, who died aged 88 on January 25.His widow Ann and five children were invited to sit in the chamber to hear the proceedings, which saw MPs on both sides of the aisle get visibly choked up as they described his impact on their lives.Premier Paula Cox described Mr Francis as a “proud patriot” and a “man who cared passionately about his country and who yearned, like many of the ilk of Dame Lois Browne-Evans and my father, to see Bermuda as an independent country”.She told how she went to work at his law firm after arriving back on the Island as a newly qualified lawyer.“I knew there were certain firms that, politically and socially, I wanted to be associated with,” she said.She described him as a family man and told how she once saw the “Francis clan” at a New York boutique hotel for their annual sojourn together.“It was almost, Mr Speaker, if you’ll forgive me for saying, like the black Waltons,” joked the Premier.Opposition Leader Kim Swan told how he’d been inspired as a young man after seeing Mr Francis and his friends at Port Royal Golf Course with their “regal sense”.He said it was good to watch them and have such excellent role models to live up to. Mr Swan spoke of the perfect Queen’s English spoken by Mr Francis, whom he said left an “indelible imprint” on the UBP.Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards said his father ET Richards the Island’s first black leader taught Mr Francis at the Berkeley Institute and the pair became close friends, founding the law firm Richards, Francis & Francis together.He said the friendship persisted even though “at times they were at odds politically”. “I think that was a tribute to the character of the people involved,” he said. Mr Richards added that a “giant of Bermuda” had fallen.Environment Minister Walter Roban, Mr Francis’s son-in-law, told how the PLP’s first parliamentary leader was still fascinated by politics long after he was no longer involved.“My relationship was personal but extremely enriching,” said Mr Roban, adding that he read about Mr Francis’s achievements in history books long before he met him.Shadow Public Works Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin described his kindness to her mother, while Government backbencher Dale Butler declared Mr Francis had a “smile that could make a thousand virgins blush”.Other MPs to pay tribute included Louise Jackson, Michael Scott, Mark Pettingill, Walter Lister, Dale Butler, Wayne Perinchief, Neletha Butterfield, Wayne Furbert, Grant Gibbons, Dame Jennifer Smith, Cole Simons, Randy Horton, Trevor Moniz, Glenn Blakeney, Charles Swan and Shawn Crockwell.Speaker Stanley Lowe brought the tribute session to a close, heralding a “man of deeds” and one who had love for all mankind.Yesterday’s proceedings in the House the first of 2011 began with a minute of silence for Mr Francis, before new member Marc Bean was led into the chamber by PLP colleagues Lovitta Foggo and Michael Weeks.The Warwick South Central MP swore the oath of allegiance and oath of an assemblyman, before politicians on both sides stamped their feet in welcome.