Hundreds gathered at the University of Mississippi Robert C. Khayat Law Center on Sunday to pay their final respects to one of Mississippi’s greatest legislators. Former U.S. Senator Thad Cochran lay in state at the Law Center on Sunday afternoon as people remembered the Pontotoc native.

Cochran passed away last Thursday at the age of 81 in a veteran’s nursing home in Oxford. The former senator earned his bachelor’s degree in 1959 and a law degree in 1965 from Ole Miss.  

Cochran was elected to the U.S. House in 1972 before being elected to the U.S. senate in 1978. He served in the U.S. Senate for seven terms before retiring in March of 2018. Cochran was the 10th-longest serving U.S. senator in history. 

Following Sunday’s visitation, Cochran’s body was escorted to Jackson by the Mississippi Highway Patrol honor guard on Monday morning for two funeral services scheduled. One was held on Monday at the Mississippi State Capitol and a second service will  at the Northminster Baptist Church.