Maine Gov. John Reed could be remembered more for what he did last, rather than first. He was the last sitting president of the Maine Senate to assume the governorship through the constitutional line of succession. He was the last Aroostook County native to be elected governor. He was the last incumbent governor who failed to win a second term. But as A.J. Higgins reports, Reed, who died Wednesday at the age of 91, will be always be first in the memories of those who knew him well.

John Reed's path to the Blaine House began with an unpredictable sequence of events in December of 1959. Reed was at his home in the Aroostook County town of Fort Fairfield, and was the sitting president of the Maine State Senate. Two state troopers arrived on his doorstep to inform him that Gov. Clinton Clausen had died.

Because Reed was first in the constituional line of succession, the Republican farmer was rushed to Augusta and sworn in as Maine's 67th governor. Friends like Gloria Flannery of Fort Fairfield, whose family once farmed land adjoining Reed's, says the Senate president possessed all of the qualities needed in an outstanding leader.

"Well, I remember John as a genuinely kind man with a humble spirit and true to his roots," Flannery says. "He connected to people and he never forgot them."

A World War II Navy veteran, Gov. Reed died Wednedsday at a hospital in Washington D.C., the city where he spent some of the most active years of his life. After serving the balance of Clausen's term, Reed was elected to the governor's post in 1962.

Veteran Maine lawmaker, state Rep. John Martin, an Eagle Lake Democrat, had just arrived as a freshman in the Maine House when Reed was in his first elected term.

"Working with Gov. Reed was really pleasant - he was a gentleman," Martin says. "I never heard him issue or say a bad word about someone. If he was talking with you about a particular subject, or even an individual, I would classify him as a very kind and gentle person."

In the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, many state legislatures took a decidedly Democratic turn. Maine was no exception. And when Reed was challenged by then Democratic Secretary of State Ken Curtis, he lost his bid for reelection for a second term in 1966.

But as it turns, Reed had made some friends in Washington, where he served on the executive committee of the National Governors' Conference and later as chairman during the mid-1960's. That was at a time when many governors, Republicans and Democrat,s were supporting the Vietnam War. John Day, a former Washington D.C. Bureau Chief for the Bangor Daily News, had the opportunity to interview Reed.

"He was a very strong supporter of the Vietnam War when Lyndon Johnson was president," Day says. "And President Johnson was very respectful of that."

Jefferson Acker, a former press secretary to Reed who is now living in Thomaston, says the Maine governor's role as chairman of the NGA was critical to President Johnson's plan to de-escalate U.S. involvement in Vietnam. So Johnson went to work persuading Reed that the U.S. had to consider a peace with honor in Vietnam.

"The president was grateful for the support he had gotten from the governor and as chairman of the National Governors Conference he carried some weight in his position," Acker says.

Day says Johnson did not forget Reed's help after he lost his bid for reelection as governor. "And he appointed Gov. Reed as chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is a pretty good job in Washington.

Reed went on to serve as U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka. Reed was once asked to compare the jobs in this MPBN interview with Jim Brunelle.

"I always remember what Averill Harriman answered when he was asked if he'd rather be a governor or ambassador. He said, 'Well, one person named me ambassador, but it took a state to make me governor,'" Reed said. "So I think it's the greatest job I ever had."

Funeral services in Fort Fairfield for Gov. Reed are pending.