RALEIGH - Governor Jim Holshouser was laid to rest at his family church in Southern Pines on Friday.

In 1972, Holshouser became the first Republican elected governor of North Carolina since 1896.The funeral was attended by sitting governor Pat McCrory and former governors Bev Perdue, Mike Easley, and Jim Hunt. Ginny Holshouser Mills says her father was devoted to his home state.

"He never wanted to live anywhere else, and he wanted to make it the best place in the world to live. He personified our state motto, "To be rather than to seem."

Holshouser died on his 52nd wedding anniversary after a period of declining health.