TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Fresh flowers have been planted around the front lawn outside the Florida Capitol and flags are at half-staff — including the one over the old Capitol, now museum — where former Florida Governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham is lying in state Friday for a public farewell.
It’s a homecoming of sorts for Graham, to the place where he began his Florida legacy, where he served in both Florida chambers, House and Senate, before his two terms as governor.
It is the place where the Coral Gables-born, Miami Lakes-founding Graham forged his career as a true public servant, known best for the work days he spent learning firsthand the many worlds Floridians maneuver, and how to make those worlds work within a collaborative, bipartisan government.
On Friday, loved ones and members of the public came out to pay their respects and share their memories about Graham.
“One of his favorite dinners was homemade meatloaf with mashed potatoes and string beans,” family friend Anne Little, who traveled to Tallahassee from Miami Lakes, said.
“Made by whom?” Local 10′s Glenna Milberg asked.
“Well, whoever would make it for him that could make it well,” Little said.
“When there was an event in Tallahassee, they would open the governor’s mansion, and I’ve got times where we went and we all got to shake his hand and my children got to play on the playground equipment at the governor’s mansion -- things have changed so much,” another friend, Diane Roorda, said.
Graham’s casket arrived at the old Capitol building last week on what his family called his final trip to Tallahassee — from Gainesville where he had been living — and where he passed away on April 16.
At 11 a.m., a military honor guard accompanied his casket and Graham will lie in state for two hours on the second-floor landing, where the public is invited to come and pay respects.
The display cases were filled with mementos from the family, who were in attendance.
Afterward, the Graham family will head to the city’s Oakland Cemetery for a private burial.
Graham’s official headstone on the ground there commemorates his public service.