MORIARTY — New Mexicans from across the state, across the decades and across the political aisle mourned former First Lady Alice King at a memorial service here Thursday morning.

King, 78, died Sunday after suffering a stroke at the King Ranch near Stanley.

More than 2,000 people attended the service at the Moriarity High School gymnasium, an athletics center that for a few hours turned into a community's chapel, its funeral home, its celebration hall.

The state's high-level politicians crowded into the gym, as did ranchers, firefighters and members of the extended King family.

Alice, who for 61 years was married to former Democratic Gov. Bruce King, served the state for three separate terms in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

Many who worked in state government with the Kings recalled that the administration was more like a family than a job.

"When we'd go somewhere, like to a restaurant, they would always say 'you have to come sit here at our table with us,'" said Carol Robertson Lopez, who worked for the Kings during their second and third terms. "It was like a family."

Alice was a major booster of Carrie Tingley Children's Hospital and also served as chairwoman of the New Mexico Children's Trust Fund.

Among many other accomplishments, she is credited with creating the state's Children, Youth and Families Department and was instrumental in helping create the state's Natural History Museum.

The Kings have two sons, Bill and Gary. Her death came as a major blow to many in this town known for its sweet corn, its pinto beans and its most famous family: the Kings.

The community, a stretch of small town where Santa Fe and Torrance counties meet up along the prairie, is so tight knit that when a reporter at the funeral asked how an attendee knew Alice, the answer was a simple "I grew up here." No more explanation needed.

Her passing also marked a major milestone in the state's history, the loss of someone at the heart of some of New Mexico's biggest moments. "She may have been small in stature but she stood tall in her character and accomplishments," said Pastor Russell Lee, who conducted the service.

Alice, a farm girl who went from country life to the Governor's Mansion without missing a beat, was also remembered by Lee for her "goodness, graciousnes, generosity and gumption."

At one point during the service, mourners clapped for the former governor and his service to the state.

But the day was for Alice, and Bruce King said he wanted her to get the recognition she "rightly deserved."

Bruce King said Wednesday that she was the one who kept him going during his job's longer days and weeks.

"I probably would have quit many years before if she hadn't kept saying  'They are counting on you, Bruce,'" he said.

Others in the crowd echoed the sentiment that where you found one King, you found the other. And that wasn't just true at the state Capitol.

Charles Anaya played basketball on Stanley's town team with Bruce, before Bruce and Alice were married.

"She was with Bruce all the time, always cheering him on," said Anaya, who retired from the State Police in 1983.

The Kings' reign back then had little to do with the ways of governing today, of fancy jets and packs of security details. It might have been the times. But it was also a humble, down-home style that was part of the Kings' nature.

Even though the pair ran the state and rubbed elbows with the likes of the Clintons and other world leaders and dignitaries, they didn't let on how far they'd come.

Edward Manchego spent part of his time in the 1970s, when the Kings first mounted election campaigns, driving for the governor and canvassing door to door for him.

"And l'd always call her Mrs. King," he said. "And she'd said, `no, you call me Alice.'"

And so it was with Alice, just Alice. She was buried before noon at the Stanley Cemetery.

One of her nieces said the funeral comes at a particularly tough time of year.

Rep. Rhonda King, D-Stanley, said one of her favorite memories is the Christmas parties Alice would organize at the mansion.

"Every year, she would always hold a special Christmas party for less fortunate children. They would put up a big tree and they would have presents there for all the little kids," she said.

"That's one of my favorite memories about her advocacy and work with the youth...to help those less fortunate, to make sure those children had a gift under the Christmas tree."

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog, Green Chile Chatter, at www.greenchilechatter.com.