LUFKIN, Texas (AP) _ The late Rep. Charlie Wilson has been remembered as a politician who took his work — but never himself — seriously.
The Dallas Morning News reports that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is challenging Texas Gov. Rick Perry in next month’s Republican primary, was among those who honored the fun-loving Texas congressman at a memorial service Sunday at Angelina College in Lufkin.
The 76-year-old Wilson died Wednesday of cardiac arrest.
Wilson funneled millions of dollars in weapons to Afghanistan through backroom dealmaking, allowing the country’s underdog mujahedeen rebels to beat back the mighty Soviet Red Army in the 1980s.
The 12-term member of the U.S. House from 1973 to 1996 was known in Washington as “Good Time Charlie” for his reputation as a hard-drinking womanizer.
Wilson will be buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery near the nation’s capital.