LAUREL, Miss.–Esophageal cancer is what claimed former state senator Vince Scoper of Laurel. He died Sunday at age 81. A funeral service was held Wednesday.
Scoper was one of the firs Republicans elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives since Reconstruction when he went into office in 1972. He served in the House until 1980, then in the state Senate from 1980 to 84, and again from 1988 to 2004.
Scoper was a geologist, with a degree from Mississippi State. He served on the Senate Oil and Gas Committee. He was also in the oil business.
He was originally from Pass Christian.
