REMEMBERING PAT BROWN\Politician's humor, persistence lauded.

Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer

A memorial service for former Gov. Edmund G. "Pat" Brown turned into a celebration of his life and accomplishments as more than 200 people paid their respects Monday at a Westwood chapel.

With an open coffin draped with the California state flag in the chapel at Pierce Brothers Mortuary, friends and family members told personal stories with more humor than tears.

"This is something Pat would have loved," said his widow, Bernice. "He would have hated to miss something like this."

Brown died Friday at his Beverly Hills home at the age of 90 after a long illness.

The memorial service in Los Angeles will be followed by a funeral Mass on Wednesday at St. Cecilia's Church in San Francisco. Burial will be in the San Francisco area, where the Browns have a family plot.

Many at the memorial service recalled Brown's contributions to the state's infrastructure, its universities, water projects and freeways.

"I have a sneaking suspicion that he's already planning a divine infrastructure," said his daughter Kathleen, the former state treasurer and unsuccessful candidate for governor two years ago.

Son Jerry, who had followed in his father's footsteps to serve as governor for two terms, said his father had a different set of values than most politicians, either past or present.

"He couldn't stay mad at anybody," he said. "Even people who had double-crossed him, he would forgive them. I wish more of us had some of that."

He said one of the most important lessons he had learned from his father was to keep trying.

"Two years after he was elected district attorney, he ran for attorney general," Jerry Brown said. "He never stopped trying."

Granddaughter Tricia Kelly Carlin fought back tears as she read a brief statement, recalling Brown's sense of humor with his family.

"I can hear him today," she said, her voice dropping to emulate the elder Brown. " 'Laugh? I laughed so hard I thought I died.'

"He had 10 grandchildren and all of us thought we were the special one."

"He had such incredible enthusiasm for life and love for people and for living. We thought he was immortal," said Carlin.

Brown, born April 21, 1905, in San Francisco, was a third-generation Californian.

Originally a Republican, he began his political career in 1927 with a loss in a run for the state Assembly. He switched to the Democratic Party in 1934 out of admiration for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and, in 1943, was elected San Francisco district attorney. He went on to run successfully for attorney general and then governor, serving from 1959 to 1967.

Along the way, he faced two men who would go on to become president, defeating Richard M. Nixon in 1962 and losing to Ronald Reagan in 1966.

While governor, Brown was credited with the construction of the 427-mile state water project, expansion of the University of California and California State University systems with 11 new campuses and building 1,000 miles of freeways.

But it wasn't only those accomplishments that were recalled Monday.

Former Los Angeles City Councilwoman Roz Wyman remembers the regimen Brown underwent in 1962 - at the suggestion of her late husband, former state Democratic Party Chairman Gene Wyman - when he faced the challenge from Nixon.

"We made him move to Los Angeles because that's where all the votes were," Wyman recalled. "We made him go on a diet and we called on Milton Berle, who had all the latest movie equipment. (Berle) had equipment that could immediately play back a speech and we made Pat practice so he would give shorter answers. Then someone suggested we hire a gag writer for him, but we didn't need that. Pat had such wonderful life experiences, he didn't need it."

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(1 -- color) Pat Brown's widow, Bernice, and children Kathleen and Jerry attend a memorial service for the former governor Monday. (2 -- color) Bernice Brown clasps her husband's flag-draped casket. Tina Gerson/Daily News