From his long-time secretary to the president of the United States, friends and colleagues recall a decent, kind man who loved people and his home state.

Berke was so stunned that then-Gov. John H. Chafee would take the time to say hello to a stranger she turned around to see whether he was really waving at someone else.

``It was just his outgoing way with people,'' recalled Berke, who actually met Chafee years later and went on to become his Providence office manager and personal secretary during his tenure in the U.S. Senate. ``That wave wasn't political at all. I just think he had a nature that liked people, that liked to connect.''

Friendly, unpretentious, gentlemanly, kind, brave, and fair in life and politics are words friends, staff and colleagues use to describe Chafee, 77, who died suddenly of congestive heart failure at Bethesda Naval Hospital Sunday night.

Across Rhode Island yesterday, admirers mourned one of the most revered men in the history of the state.

Governor Almond, his voice cracking during a news conference, praised Chafee as an ``inspiring leader'' with ``extraordinary integrity.'' (The State Room will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. this week so people can pay their respects by signing a condolence book.)

Curt Spalding, executive director of Save the Bay, called Chafee a ``champion'' of the environment whose efforts led to the financing of many of the programs that created open space and wildlife refuges along the shore. And Atty. Gen. Sheldon Whitehouse said Chafee ``always fought the good fight, always left his duty station better than he found it.''

Groups from the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority to the Rhode Island Breast Cancer Coalition to the National Education Association/Rhode Island issued statements expressing their sadness over Chafee's death.

Marlene McCarthy, chairwoman of the Breast Cancer Coalition, recognized Chafee for his inexhaustible efforts on legislation that would provide Medicaid coverage for uninsured, underinsured and low-income women diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer.

``He got it, he got the message,'' McCarthy said. ``We didn't have to do a lot of tap dancing around the issue. He agreed with us that it would be unconscionable that the federal government would initiate and sponsor a screening program that would detect cancer but not provide treatment for these women.''

TRIBUTES also poured in from national figures and from Chafee's colleagues in the U.S. Senate, where he served for 23 years as leader of the Republican Party's moderate wing, making his mark on the environment, health care, housing, child care and the rights of the disabled.

President Clinton said Chafee ``proved that politics can be an honorable profession'' and that ``civility'' was essential to the preservation of democracy. Former President George Bush, a friend of the Chafee family, said the country lost a ``great American.'' And Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott honored Chafee for his lack of partisanship.

``We knew John as a genially independent New Englander respected on both sides of the aisle, who worked to bring opposing sides together for a common goal,'' Lott said. ``All senators regretted his decision this year to leave the Senate, but it was characteristic of John to work to the very end.''

Vice President Al Gore, a Democratic aspirant for president, called Chafee a ``brave man'' for staying true to his beliefs.

``Despite the many pressures he faced over the two decades he served in the Senate, he was never a partisan, never an ideologue,'' Gore said. ``He was simply the gentleman from Rhode Island who was never afraid to speak his mind and allow the American people to judge his actions.''

Rhode Islanders who worked and socialized with Chafee remember a man who was extraordinary for his love of family and country.

He loved Rhode Island so much he ``treated the entire state as if it was his home,'' said Mike Ryan, former chief of staff for Chafee's Providence office and currently a vice president at Narragansett Electric.

``If you walked with him any length of time downtown or someplace else, if he saw a piece of paper on the ground or a tin can, he'd pick it up,'' Ryan said. ``If you were with him, it would eventually end up in your car. Later on, he'd say, `Oh, Mike, your car is pretty messy.' ''

Eventually, Chafee's tidiness would rub off, and Ryan would find himself picking up trash, too.

His loyalty to his staff was legendary, Ryan said.

``He was loyal to those who had been around him from the very beginning,'' he said. ``When he ran into someone who had been part of his first gubernatorial race, his face would light up.''

CHAFEE was also inspired by anything involving his beloved Bay or the preservation of a coastline, a marsh, a park, said Spalding, of Save the Bay. With his ``folksy wisdom'' and ability to bring opposing political groups together, Chafee was a key player in most of the landmark environmental legislation passed in the country.

``Everyone would scream and talk about how expensive it was, preserving open space, but when it was done, no one ever said, `Oh, John, that was a bad idea,' '' Spalding said.

His passion for the Bay was obvious during a news conference two years ago about restoring the Bay's habitat. The other dignitaries gave prepared speeches. Chafee simply stood up and declared:

``We should do this because Narragansett Bay is good for the soul.''

Silence fell over the audience.

``It came from the heart,'' Spalding said. ``I think he always led from that standpoint. He led from his internal view of the world, fairness and equity. He thought the Bay is for everybody . . . and that's why it's beautiful, why you should respect it and pass it on to our children. It was simple wisdom.''

ABOUT A DECADE after Berke's glimpse of Chafee on that Providence street corner in the mid-1960s, she encountered Chafee again -- this time at Edwards & Angell, where he was working as a lawyer and she was working as a secretary.

When Chafee won the U.S. Senate seat in 1976, she followed him to his Providence office, where she still works one day a week since retiring in 1995.

``I thought the world of him,'' she said. ``Government was new to me, but I always marveled at his almost instantaneous perception of a situation. He would cut to the core of it, and see what should be done. I loved watching that in him.''

Some politicians get annoyed with the phone calls, letters and criticism from constituents. Not Chafee, said Berke. He would help those in distress -- the families of the boys who fell through the ice at a Warwick pond four years ago, for one -- and listen to people when they spoke to him. (He could actually remember, Berke said, where people went to church.)

He was an avid writer of thank-you letters.

``Everybody in the state thought they knew him,'' Berke said. ``There was a personal side to him. Very open . . . If anybody came up to him, he was always responsive. People liked him, they genuinely liked him.''

He worked long hours, especially when the Senate was in session, but he always made time for his family. Berke said he adored his children and grandchildren -- and that ``they adore him.''

``He's very proud of them, each and every one of them,'' she said. ``He loved them dearly. He'd go for walks with his grandchildren and their dogs.''

He and his wife, Virginia Chafee, were a team and a loving couple.

``I know that at the Fourth of July Parade [in Bristol], they'd be walking down the street, holding hands,'' she said.

His large family house in Warwick, where he had hoped to spend his retirement, was his joy.

``He was looking forward,'' Berke said, ``to going back to that farm.''

Last night, Chafee was to be honored as ``New Englander of the Year'' by the New England Council, an organization of businesspeople, for his contributions to the region.

Former U.S. Rep. Ronald Machtley, now president of Bryant College, was to introduce Chafee, who was Machtley's ``father figure'' when he was in Congress, guiding him through the system.

``He took me under his wing,'' Machtley said. ``He was always available if I had a question.''

In his speech, Chafee was expected to highlight what he considered New England's treasures: exceptional colleges, historic buildings and towns, breathtaking landscapes, and a ``high quality of daily life.''

Chafee, in true bipartisan fashion and sounding as optimistic as ever, was to end his speech with a quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt:

``The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.''

``He took me under his wing,'' Machtley said. ``He was always available if I had a question.''

In his speech, Chafee was expected to highlight what he considered New England's treasures: exceptional colleges, historic buildings and towns, breathtaking landscapes, and a ``high quality of daily life.''

Chafee, in true bipartisan fashion and sounding as optimistic as ever, was to end his speech with a quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt:

``The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.''