Flags across Missouri are at half-staff as mourners prepare to honor former Missouri congressman Ike Skelton.

Skelton's funeral is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Monday at Wikoff Hall on the Wentworth campus in Skelton's hometown of Lexington. He will be buried with military rites at the Machpelah Cemetery in Lexington.

Skelton, a Democrat, died last Monday of complications from pneumonia. He was 81.

Gov. Jay Nixon ordered flags to be flown at half-staff Monday to honor Skelton, who served in the U.S. House for 34 years before losing a re-election bid in 2010 to Republican Vicky Hartzler in Missouri's 4th Congressional District. After his defeat, he practiced law in Missouri and Washington, D.C.

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