TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Among the tributes to Gov. Lawton Chiles at his funeral, there was one complaint.
"If you disappointed us at all, it was only that you left too early," Gov. Buddy MacKay said, his voice cracking.Chiles, 68, died of an abnormal heartbeat Saturday, just 23 days before the end of his term. MacKay, who will serve as governor until Gov.-elect Jeb Bush takes over Jan. 5, was the first of many speakers Wednesday to eulogize Chiles as a visionary leader who "made a difference."
His friends and family also described Chiles the man: someone who loved to play jokes, carried a Bible everywhere and walked the length of the state in 1970 to win a seat in the U.S. Senate and the enduring nickname "Walkin' Lawton."
Vice President Al Gore, who served in the Senate with Chiles, attended the funeral at Faith Presbyterian Church along with several other top officials from the Clinton administration and dozens of Florida leaders, past and present.
Gore praised Chiles for his fight against the federal budget deficit before he left Washington in 1989 and his role as one of the first governors to take on the tobacco industry.
MacKay said the man he persuaded to run for governor in 1990 "practiced a different kind of politics."
"He stood in our Capitol during a State of the State speech and said, 'I didn't come to stay, I came to make a difference,' " MacKay said. "And what a difference he's truly made."
Like other speakers, MacKay credited Rhea Chiles, who sat surrounded by her children and 10 grandchildren, with inspiring her husband.
Chiles, an avid hunter, was buried with his favorite turkey call.