Erika Kirk, widow of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, honored her husband at a memorial Sunday. She also spoke about forgiveness for his accused killer.
Tyler Robinson, 22, is charged in Charlie’s Sept. 10 death. Erika said he was like many of the young men her husband tried to help.
"Charlie wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life," she said. "Our Savior said, 'Father, forgive them, for they not know what they do.' That young man … I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it's what Charlie would do."
Speaking at State Farm Stadium in Arizona, she thanked the audience for honoring him. She opened with his favorite verse, Isaiah 6:8: Here I am, Lord. Send me. She recalled once telling him, "Charlie, baby, please talk to me next time before you say that statement," because of its power.
Charlie was shot at Utah Valley University and rushed to the hospital. Erika described arriving to "do the unthinkable" — seeing his body. "I looked directly at my husband's murdered body," she said. "I felt shock. I felt horror and a level of heartache I didn't even know existed."
But she noticed more. "Even in death, I could see the man that I love," she said. She laughed as she remembered a detail: "I saw the one single gray hair on the side of his head, which I never told him about. Now he knows. Sorry, baby, telling you now."
She also sensed mercy. "I also saw on his lips the faintest smile … it told me Charlie didn't suffer," she said. Doctors confirmed his death was instant and painless.
Erika shared how they kept their marriage strong. "Our little secret: It was love notes. Every Saturday, Charlie wrote one for me, and he never missed." Each note ended with him asking, Please let me know how I can better serve you as a husband.
Faith guided Charlie, she said. He journaled daily, once writing: "Every time you make a decision, it puts a mark on your soul." She told the crowd Charlie gave 100% every day and left with no regrets.
"Charlie died with incomplete work, but not with unfinished business," she said. "And I will miss him. I will miss him so much. Because our marriage and our family were beautiful."
She closed with a vow as Turning Point USA’s new CEO. "Everything that Turning Point USA built through Charlie's vision and hard work, we will make ten times greater through the power of his memory. No assassin will ever stop us from standing up to defend those rights."