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State Senate's last WWII vet is dead at 74By LUCY MORGAN, Times Tallahassee Bureau Chief
© St. Petersburg Times TALLAHASSEE -- State Sen. Howard Futch, a Brevard County Republican who was the last World War II veteran serving in the state Capitol, died Thursday after an apparent heart attack. Futch, 74, was mourned by sobbing senators at a midday memorial service in the Senate chamber. All legislative meetings were canceled Thursday and today. "We've lost one of our most cherished members," said Senate President Jim King. "He's somewhere now with a big cup of coffee and an ashtray filled with cigarette butts, saying he wished there was not so much fuss made over his passing." Senate aides said Futch hadn't been feeling well this week and thought he was catching a cold. Early Thursday he called his legislative aide, Corkey Fields, for a ride to the hospital. As he waited in the lobby at the Quality Inn, Futch reportedly collapsed. He was being loaded into an ambulance when Fields arrived and was pronounced dead at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital about 4:30 a.m. As a lawmaker, Futch fought for benefits for World War II veterans and unsuccessfully championed the cause of the scrub jay. He supported the little-known bird at the behest of high school students who wanted to replace the mockingbird as the state's official bird because scrub jays are native to Florida and not as common as mockingbirds. Called "Ol' Dad" by many legislators, Futch began his legislative career in 1992 at an age when many would retire. Born in Washington, he moved to Florida in 1976 at the end of a career as a civilian employee at the Pentagon. He had served in the Army under Gen. Douglas MacArthur as part of the post-World War II occupying force in Japan in 1946-47 and during the Korean War in 1950-51. Gov. Jeb Bush praised Futch as a "wonderful man and great friend" and said he met him in 1983 when Futch was party chairman in Brevard and Bush was party chairman in Dade County. Reps. Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, Mike Allen, R-Merritt Island, and Stan Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, are among those said to be considering a bid for Futch's seat, which will be filled by a special election. One by one his fellow senators and other officials stood to praise Futch in the Senate after watching Florida National Guard officers place combat boots, a rifle with fixed bayonet, a helmet and dog tags on a platform at the front of the Senate chamber. "He truly was a rare breed of cat," said Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon. "They just don't make them like that anymore." He is survived by his wife, Joyce, sons Duane, Brian and John, daughter Janice, and five grandchildren.
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From the Times state desk
From the state wire
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