A fine service was held for the late Sen. Dale Bumpers at First United Methodist Church in downtown Little Rock today. Funny, upbeat, positive.

The prelude included, with brass voice, "We Shall Overcome." The opening hymn was, "A Mighty Fortress." The opening scripture, the Beatitudes from Matthew 5 — blessed are the poor ... "A choir anthem, "Love Divine All Loves Excelling."

Brent Bumpers, the senator's son spoke briefly. His father, he said, was a "lucky man." He had his own family, a massive family of friends and supporters, a family of aides and staff. "On behalf of my mother, Bill and Brooke I want to thank you all for being here."

Veteran journalist Ernest Dumas said, by the beautiful day, that Bumpers must have been forgiven for saying God did not part the Red Sea. UHe bemoaned being asked to speak with the likes of Bill Clinton and David Pryor, oratorical greats akin to Daniel Webster and Caesar. He said his presence likely grew from a speech Bumpers heard in which Dumas described the reforms Bumpers achieved as governor and an assessment that called him Arkansas's one great governor. "Keep your notes," Bumpers told him at the time. "I want you to say that at my funeral." But Dumas said the obituaries and adequately addressed those. Instead, he tried to explain the "Dale Bumpers Phenomenon" Someone unknown, untested and under financed who beat giants and went on, despite naivety, to be successful. Someone who followed his conscience, never surrendering to political realities, voting for unpopular things aand — despite that — being loved by voters or at least forgiven by them.