Mourners walk around the rotunda of the Mississippi Capitol during the public visitation for former Gov. Kirk Fordice.(Brian Loden The Vicksburg Post)

[9/10/04]JACKSON During the four years Col. Marvin Curtis directed security for Kirk Fordice, he saw the governor in many situations: delivering speeches, lobbying legislators and studying in his private office, relaxing.

Thursday, as one of the mourners viewing the flag-draped casket of the state’s former chief executive, Curtis said one of the things he admired most about Mr. Fordice was that he was the same person, no matter the circumstance.

Services and burial were today for Mr. Fordice, who died Tuesday morning at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson a month after revealing he was being treated for leukemia. He was 70.

Honor guards from the Mississippi Army National Guard and the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol stood watch as a steady stream of elected officials, state employees and other citizens shuffled around the rotunda from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., viewing the governor’s official portrait and mementos from public and private life.

“I learned a lot from Gov. Fordice as far as being a leader,” said Curtis, now chief of patrol for the MHP. “He had Mississippi at heart.” Curtis worked for the Vicksburg Police Department and the Warren County Sheriff’s Department before moving to the state police force in 1982.

State Sen. Mike Chaney, R-Vicksburg, said Gov. Fordice was responsible for his political career. He encouraged Chaney to run for Ed Buelow’s seat after Gov. Fordice appointed Buelow, then in the House, as chairman of the state Tax Commission. Buelow served 12 years in the post.

Chaney, who served one House term and is in his second Senate term, said Mr. Fordice was a driving force for the Republican Party in the state. He recalled hosting Gov. Fordice’s first fund-raiser in 1991. “A lot of folks said he wouldn’t carry his street. Well, he carried the whole state,” Chaney said.

After announcing in January, Fordice won the Republican primary and a runoff before defeating incumbent Gov. Ray Mabus who was seeking a second term.

State Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, said Gov. Fordice will be remembered for his surprise victory in 1991. The election of the Memphis native and 30-year Vicksburg resident “speaks volumes for the caliber of people in Vicksburg,” Flaggs said. “We could use his leadership today.”

After the public visitation in the Capitol, Fordice’s body was taken to Wright and Ferguson Funeral Home, where the family received friends.

The funeral was today at First Baptist Church in Jackson, and burial was to be in Madison.