Published: November 25, 2008 10:29 pm      

Underwood ‘a gentleman’

Politics can make strange bedfellows, as one adage goes, but it can also make for some enduring friends — partisan differences aside.

A case in point is the friendship of two former governors, Cecil Underwood and Hulett Smith.

Underwood died Monday at 86, leaving behind a legacy as the youngest and then the oldest to be elected governor in West Virginia.

More importantly, he left behind many friends, among them Smith, the Beckleyan who successfully battled him in 1964 for the right to govern West Virginia for four years.

“Cecil and I, even though often political opponents, were lifelong friends,” Smith recalled Tuesday.

“In the 1964 campaign, when we both ran for governor, it was not unusual for us to be in the same town to campaign hard all day and then end up having a cup of coffee to close out the day.”

Over the decades, Smith said, the two remained friends and often joined hands to work on education projects benefiting the state.

“I always will think of him as the gentleman governor on the list of governors I’ve known,” Smith said in a statement.

Smith, who reached the milestone of 90 last month, still lives in Beckley. He served as governor from 1965 to 1969 and formerly served on the West Virginia Parkways Authority.

Agriculture Commissioner Gus Douglass said he was “greatly saddened” to learn of the former governor’s death.

“He and I shared our careers in government at around the same time,” Douglass said.

“Throughout his career, he was always a great friend to agriculture, particularly to student farmers in 4-H and FFA, and a great personal friend to me. He was a true gentleman and will go down in history as one of West Virginia’s greatest leaders. He will be missed.”