- Neighbors gathered at the historic Capitol building Friday to paid their final respects to former governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham.
- Several neighbors remembered the down-to-earth qualities of Graham as a man.
- Watch now to hear from one neighbor who knew Graham in high school and college.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Former governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham touched countless lives while in office and after retiring.
I'm Alberto Camargo in the downtown Tallahassee neighborhood.
I'm speaking with neighbors who came to pay their final respects to find out how much Graham impacted them.
One final goodbye.
That's one reason why hundreds of neighbors visited the historic Capitol museum Friday.
But another reason -- and more prominent in the minds of neighbors I spoke with — a celebration of the man.
"Well, we were classmates in high school and college."
I spoke with Jean Sadowski, who first met Graham at Miami High School.
She says he never lost the qualities that she remembers him having back in school.
"Just as down to earth as when he grew up on a farm, basically. Honest, hardworking, caring about Florida like few people today."
Those qualities were apparent even to Floridians that didn't know him quite as well as Sadowski did.
Another neighbor I spoke with — James Boyette.
"He was very efficient, very eloquent and very accommodating. If he could help you he would."
Boyette says he identified with Graham because of their shared upbringing.
Boyette grew up on a family tobacco farm in North Carolina -- Graham on a dairy farm near Miami.
Boyette says he admired Graham for the man-of-the-people attitude he kept while in office.
"I came out today just to remember him, to honor him and to say goodbye."
And as more and more neighbors passed through, the goodbyes added up.
But they don't come close to the amount of memories and the legacy left by Bob Graham.
Sadowski tells me that when she was inside paying her respects, the one thing she could think of was how lucky we were to have Graham.
In downtown Tallahassee, Alberto Camargo, ABC27.
