King lies in state at Roundhouse

Posted at: 11/20/2009 8:15 AM | Updated at: 11/20/2009 6:07 PM
By: Austin Reed, Eyewitness News 4, and Reed Upton, KOB.com

Former New Mexico Governor Bruce King’s body laid in state in the Rotunda of the Roundhouse today, allowing New Mexicans an opportunity to pay their respects to the state’s last cowboy governor.

King’s presence in the state capitol, or Roundhouse, as it is known, seems entirely fitting: He was the speaker of the state House of Representatives the years after the Roundhouse was first dedicated in 1966.

King passed away last Friday morning at the age of 85. He had been recovering at his Santa Fe County ranch after surgery to adjust a pacemaker.

King was elected governor three times – in 1970, 1978 and 1990. He was prevented from running for reelection his first two terms because the state constitution didn’t allow sequential terms in state office.

He did run for reelection after his third term in office only to be defeated by political newcomer Gary Johnson.

King died just shy of a year after the death of his longtime wife and political partner Alice King. In King’s memoirs, “A Cowboy in the Roundhouse,” King writes of the couple traveling Santa Fe County in the 1950s at nights to political events after a work day at the ranch and eating their dinner on the road out of a sack lunch prepared by Alice.

King’s funeral has been set for 10:00 Saturday morning at the gymnasium at Moriarty High School.  The service for King will be streamed live on KOB.com and broadcast on digital channel 4-2 and Comcast channel 208.

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