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Chris Morris
Telegraph-Journal

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MEMRAMCOOK - Friends and family filed past the coffin of Roméo LeBlanc on Thursday, paying homage to a man who brought grace and humility to the halls of power.

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Matthew Sherwood/Telegraph-Journal

The scene was solemn on Thursday at the Old Chapel in the Memramcook Institute, where Roméo LeBlanc lies in state. A state funeral is scheduled for this morning for the former journalist, llongtime Liberal politician and first Acadian governor general of Canada.

Matthew Sherwood/Telegraph-Journal

Dominic LeBlanc, son of Roméo LeBlanc and Liberal MP for Beauséjour, arrives at the Memramcook Institute where his father lies in state.

For the past week, Canada's political and business elite have paid tribute to the former Liberal cabinet minister and governor general who died last Wednesday at the age of 81.

But on Thursday, it was mostly neighbours, old friends and a long parade of LeBlanc relatives who came to Memramcook to say goodbye.

"He was a good and modest person who did the best he could to help others who were less fortunate than he was," Dominic LeBlanc, Roméo's son and the member of Parliament for Beauséjour, told reporters.

The state funeral for LeBlanc - the first to be held in New Brunswick - is scheduled take place this morning in Memramcook, his hometown.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, former prime minister Jean Chrétien, Gov.-Gen. Michaëlle Jean and Liberal Party Leader Michael Ignatieff will be among the many dignitaries in attendance.

Honorary pallbearers include Chrétien, Premier Shawn Graham, Alexandre "Sacha" Trudeau, son of Pierre Trudeau, and James K. Irving, chairman of J.D. Irving, Limited.

At the lying-in-state, LeBlanc's flag-draped coffin was placed in the Old Chapel at the Memramcook Institute, an institution he knew well as a young man when it was St. Joseph's College.

Guy Richard, whose daughter, Jolene, is married to Dominic, said he was a student at the college at the same time as LeBlanc. Richard said the Holy Cross Fathers who taught the francophone and anglophone students spotted LeBlanc's keen intelligence.

"I will never forget the day that Roméo gave the valedictory speech," Richard said with a smile.

"He had apparently worked all night and after he started giving it, he fainted. They had to put some water on his face. He came back and did it beautifully."

It would be the first of many speeches for LeBlanc and it was undoubtably the only time he fainted.

His long and varied career includes time spent as a teacher, a broadcaster, a spin doctor, a member of Parliament, a federal minister, a senator and, of course, a governor general.

The longest-serving fisheries minister in the country's history, he has been described as the most powerful politician this province has sent to Ottawa since Confederation

"He was lovingly known as the 'minister of the fishermen'," Les Stoodley, a resident of Shediac and retired journalist, said after he paid his respects to LeBlanc.

"In talking with other people in the fishing industry back in the '70s, they all held him in high regard because he had the ability to come down to the wharf and talk to them in their setting."

Claudette Bradshaw, a former MP and a longtime admirer of LeBlanc, said he was a hero to her and many other Acadian people.

"I am happy that I met him and he will be with me probably until the day that I die because of what he has done for his people and his riding," she said.

"We've lost a special person, but really we haven't lost him because of what he has taught us.

"He was a good person."