David Pryor, former governor and senator of Arkansas, is remembered

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Former Arkansas Gov. and U.S. Sen. David Pryor was remembered during a Saturday funeral service by family, friends and colleagues, including former President Bill Clinton.

Pryor died at the age of 89 on April 20 from natural causes. The memorial was held at a Little Rock church.

Clinton said during the service that Pryor — whom Clinton had worked with for years in Arkansas politics — was one of the few people he could count on in Washington to give him difficult news.

“You’d be amazed how many people are so intimidated by the office of the presidency that they go into the Oval Office time and time and time again, and they tell the president what they think the president wants to hear, not what the president needs to hear,” Clinton said. “David Pryor wasn’t like that.”

Clinton highlighted Pryor’s years of work to improve nursing homes.

“He thought that every person was entitled to live their whole lives in dignity,” Clinton said.

Pryor was a Democrat who was elected governor in 1974 and served four years before being elected to the U.S. Senate. He served three terms before deciding to not seek reelection in 1996. Pryor’s son, Mark Pryor, served two terms in the U.S. Senate.

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