Funeral Set For Former Texas Governor Clements
DALLAS (AP) - Friends and supporters of former Texas Gov. Bill Clements will gather to pay tribute to the state's first Republican governor since Reconstruction.
The public memorial service will be Thursday afternoon at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church after his private burial in Dallas.
The man whom Gov. Rick Perry has called the father of the modern-day Texas Republican Party died Sunday at the age of 94 after a long illness. Clements was also grieving for his son, shot dead by a neighbor last year in East Texas.
Inaugurated in 1979, Clements served two terms as governor despite losing his first re-election bid. The oilman ran Texas under the belief that state government should operate like a big business.
The Republican Party now holds every statewide elected office.
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