Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk's widow, arrives on stage to speak during the public memorial service for political activist Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Sept. 21, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
Speaking to a crowd at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Erika Kirk thanked the audience for honoring her husband.
She began her speech by quoting one of Charlie Kirk's favorite Bible verses, Isaiah 6:8: "Here I am, Lord. Send me," and recalled a time that Charlie Kirk repeated it at the end of a conference.
"After Charlie finished, I met him backstage and I spoke to him … I said, Charlie, baby, please talk to me next time before you say that statement," she said.
ERIKA KIRK, AHEAD OF MEMORIAL SERVICE, INSPIRES CHRISTIAN STAFFER TO REMAIN 'ROOTED IN FAITH'
"Because when you say something like that, there is so much power in that verse … God will take you up on that, and He did."
Charlie Kirk was quickly rushed to a hospital after being shot at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Sept. 10. At his Sunday memorial, Erika Kirk described the moment when she arrived to "do the unthinkable" and see her husband's corpse.
"I look(ed) directly at my husband's murdered body," she said. "I saw the wound that ended his life. I felt everything you would expect to feel. I felt shock. I felt horror and a level of heartache that I didn't even know existed."
"But there was something else too. Even in death, I could see the man that I love. I saw the one single gray hair on the side of his head, which I never told him about," she laughed. "Now he knows. Sorry, baby, telling you now."
Erika Kirk also opened up about their marriage, revealing the private ritual that kept it strong even amid her husband's constant travel. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
"And in every single one of them, he'd tell me what his highlight was for the week, how grateful he was for me and our babies," she added. "And always at the end, he would always end it with asking the most beautiful question, 'Please let me know how I can better serve you as a husband.'"
Above all, Erika Kirk emphasized her husband's faith and how he practiced his Christian faith, revealing that he enjoyed journaling to remember important moments in his life.
"And one of the things he wrote in his journal was this, ‘Every time you make a decision, it puts a mark on your soul,'" she said. "To those of you out there who just made that decision, and took the first step toward a spiritual life, I say thank you and welcome."
Erika Kirk, right, concluded by saying she was honored to be the new Turning Point USA CEO and that her husband's mission "is my mission." (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
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Toward the end of her speech, the widow concluded by saying she was honored to be the new Turning Point USA CEO and that her husband's mission "is my mission."
"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," Erika Kirk said.
"No assassin will ever stop us from standing up to defend those rights."
Andrea Margolis is a lifestyle writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Readers can follow her on X at @andreamargs or send story tips to andrea.margolis@fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/erika-kirk-forgives-husbands-killer-memorial-service-its-what-charlie-would-do