In tribute to the memory of the late former U.S. Rep. Marion Berry and as an expression of public sorrow, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders directed that the United State flag and the state flag of Arkansas be flown at half-staff from sunrise Monday to sunset on the day of interment.
The Republican governor issued the directive in a proclamation that her office released Monday afternoon.
Berry, a former Democratic U.S. congressman who represented Arkansas' 1st Congressional District from January 1997 until January 2011, died Friday in Little Rock at the age of 80 following a long illness. A memorial worship service will be held for Berry at 1 p.m., June 24 in Gillett Memorial Church.
In her proclamation, Sanders said Berry built a farm in the Delta that still carries on today, showed a strong commitment to improving conditions in the Delta for farmers and residents alike, served with distinction on President Bill Clinton's Domestic Policy Council, and "remained loyal to his constituents even when it required bucking national trends and forever considered the Delta his home.
"Marion Berry was a man of strong convictions and deep morals, who stayed a servant of the people even when he climbed the highest reaches of national politics," the governor said in her proclamation.