A crowd of perhaps 100 people gathered near the coffin on a mild spring day. Friends, family and clergy spoke briefly and read from scripture.
Before and after the graveside memorial for legendary public relations lion Julian Read — advisor to six presidents — at the Texas State Cemetery, admirers, clad in dark hues, mixed among the marble and granite monuments that bedeck Republic Hill, where some of the state's founders are buried.
Read, who died May 8 at age 93 after a full life, had witnessed Texas history.
Across a dinner table, he could recount details about the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas — he was the first spokesman to explain to the press what happened in the presidential limousine. Over lunch, Read could regale you with perfectly polished anecdotes about governors, legislators and civic leaders, or chat about the finer points of midcentury modern design.