With quavering voices, hundreds of family, friends, and supporters gathered on to celebrate Edith Windsor.

They were also feeling political.

When Roberta Kaplan, the litigator who argued Windsor’s landmark gay rights case before the US supreme court, said her passing was a reminder to “redouble our efforts to resist”, the word went out like a shockwave, drawing applause and cheers.

Known to friends as “Edie”, Windsor was the lead plaintiff in the US supreme court case that struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and paved the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015. Those gathered inside Temple Emanu-El on the Upper East Side remembered her as an electric companion whose 4ft 11in frame could barely contain her verve.

The weight of Windsor’s political legacy was heavy in the room – most of all when Hillary Clinton approached the podium to standing applause. Without naming the current president, Clinton recast Windsor’s legacy as an exemplar for those countering the Trump administration’s assaults on LGBT rights.

“There wasn’t a cynical or defeatist bone in Edie’s body,” Clinton said. “That’s especially important for us to remember now. We owe it to her to ensure that gay rights are human rights and human rights remain gay rights forever … It is easy for us to grow weary of these fights, but remember Edie, who took on and won the US government. Our work is not done.”

Moments later, Kaplan echoed Clinton’s message. After warmly recounting that Windsor lived by two maxims – “never delay joy” and “keep it hot” – Windsor’s friend and attorney charged the congregation with taking up her legacy. “No human gets to complete the dream of liberation,” Kaplan said. “Edie did not see her work as finished, and neither should we.”

Windsor married Thea Spyer in Canada in 2007, after the pair had been together for 40 years. Two years later Spyer died, and the IRS ordered Windsor to pay $363,000 in estate taxes, as the federal government did not recognise the pair’s marriage, prompting her legal battle.

“Even during her final weeks, she was a flirt,” working her charms on the doctors, nurses and cleaning staff who cycled out of her room, said Karen Sauvigne, one of Windsor’s longtime friends. In the hospital, Sauvigne said, Windor charmed a nurse into painting her nails “so that she died with a fresh manicure”.