MILESBURG -- Friends and colleagues gathered yesterday in a small Methodist church here to honor a "giant of a man," the late state Rep. Russell P. Letterman, D-Clinton.

Letterman, 56, who died last Thursday of a heart attack at Centre Community Hospital, was remembered on the rainy afternoon by Gov. Robert P. Casey and members of the state House of Representatives. The house canceled its session for the event.

He was the second state representative to die during the current term. House Speaker James J. Manderino, D-Westmoreland, died in December.

A 10-term veteran of the state house and a professional barber, Letterman was instrumental in securing the passage of the Sunny Day Fund legislation last year. The bill will provide $10 million to help finance the return of Piper North Corporation, which could provide up to 670 new jobs in the Clinton County area.

"Russell Letterman will be remembered by all of the families who find employment and hope at the air craft factory in Lock Haven," Casey said to a church packed with about 440 people.

Letterman was commended by all of the speakers for his concern and service for the people of his district, which he had served since 1970. The chapel was lined with flowers from local friends and organizations such as the Howard Fire Company and the Milesburg Sportsman Club.

"As they say, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line -- Russell Letterman was the shortest distance between his district and Harrisburg," said Rep. Camille "Bud" George, D-Clearfield.

Born in 1933 in Milesburg, Letterman was later a baseball star at Bellefonte High School in 1950. He served two years with the U.S. Navy during the Korean War.

County Commissioner Vicki Bumbarger, who is running for Letterman's seat, said she was greatly saddened by his death.

"I will miss his cooperation and I will also miss him as a personal friend and neighbor. Russ and I lived on the same street several houses from each other," said Bumbarger, who was a denmother to Letterman's son Tor.

Letterman, an avid outdoorsman, was a champion for air and water conservation. He recently served on the Game and Fisheries Committee, the Joint Legislative Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee, and the Task Force on the Environment.

In his 20-year career representing all of Clinton County and parts of Centre, Clearfield, and Lycoming counties, he helped double the allocation to Soil Conservation Districts across Pennsylvania and also worked to create the Wildlife Resources Conservation Fund.

"As long as the water runs clear in the streams of North Central Pennsylvania, Russell Letterman will remembered," Casey said.

He was also remembered by his colleagues for his brash and outspoken style.

"That's the way that I'll always remember him -- tough and brave and loyal to the end," said Speaker of the House Robert W. O'Donnell, D-Phila.

Majority Leader H. William DeWeese, D-Greene, said: "We are here to acknowledge a vital and almost propulsive force. He was a hungry forager at the feast of life."

At the end of the ceremony Pastor Bruce Wallace read a couplet written by Letterman that said, "Please don't sing sad songs for me. I am in a perfect place far away from here."

George said in his closing remarks, "Russ was not one of those people who stepped briefly into your life and departed. There are things that I dare not recount, but one day you and I, Russ, will recount them."

Letterman is survived by his wife, Janice, and son Tor.