Among those ad­dressing mourners were Ventura County Republican Party Chair Richard Luca, who opened the program and Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff, who spoke, among other things, about hate slung online. Other speakers included Ventura County Republican Party Chair Richard Lucas, Fox @ Night panelist and attorney Katie Zacharia, religious leaders and members of the local GOP. “Charlie called me his pastor,” Mc­Coy told the Acorn, “but I prefer to be known as his friend and greatest fan.”The two met in 2019, McCoy told the gathering Monday night. He says, ‘I didn’t know a guy like you existed.’ I said, ‘What’s that?’ He said, ‘A pastor in politics.’”In return, McCoy told Kirk he didn’t know someone like Kirk existed. Away from the lime­light, cameras and social media, Charlie was “the most gentle human being I ever met,” McCoy told the Acorn.