LUFKIN, Texas – The late Rep. Charlie Wilson was a dedicated public servant who took his work but never himself seriously, friends recalled during a memorial service Sunday in his Texas hometown.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is challenging Texas Gov. Rick Perry in next month’s Republican primary, was among those honoring the fun-loving Texas congressman at Angelina College in Lufkin.
The 76-year-old Wilson died Wednesday of cardiopulmonary arrest.
Wilson funneled millions of dollars in weapons to Afghanistan through backroom dealmaking, allowing the South Asian country’s underdog mujahedeen rebels to beat back the mighty Soviet Red Army in the 1980s.
The 12-term member of the U.S. House from 1973 to 1996 was known in Washington as “Good Time Charlie” for his reputation as a hard-drinking womanizer.