BOSTON, Massachusetts – President Barack Obama led the nation Saturday in mourning “the greatest legislator of our time,” celebrating the indelible impact of Edward M. Kennedy as a senator for nearly a half-century and leader of America's most famous family during tragedy and triumph.
President Barack Obama takes the hands of Vicki Reggie Kennedy (R) during the funeral of her husband U.S.
Senator Ted Kennedy in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston, August 29, 2009
Delivering an emotional eulogy for Kennedy that capped a two-hour Roman Catholic funeral Mass, Obama employed humor, his own experiences and timeless anecdotes to memorialize the senator, who died Tuesday at 77 after a yearlong battle with brain cancer. The country may have viewed him as “heir to a weighty legacy,” Obama said, but he was playfully known by the youngest Kennedys less grandly: as the big cheese, “The Grand Fromage.”
“Ted Kennedy's life's work was not to champion the causes of those with wealth or power or special connections,” Obama said. “It was to give a voice to those who were not heard, to add a rung to the ladder of opportunity, to make real the dream of our founding.”
The president said that “though it is Teddy's historic body of achievements that we will remember, it is his giving heart that we will miss.”
The service drew to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica three of the four living former presidents, dozens of Kennedy relatives, pews full of current and former members of Congress and many others — a crowd of about 1,500 affected by the senator in ways large and small. No fewer than seven priests, 11 pallbearers and 29 honorary pallbearers took part. Mournful performances came from tenor Placido Domingo and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
The white draped casket of Senator Edward Kennedy sits in front of (L-R) former President George W. Bush,
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden and his wife Jill,
former first lady Rosalynn Carter and former President Jimmy Carter during funeral services for Kennedy at the
Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts August 29, 2009
After the funeral in a working-class area of Boston, Kennedy's body was being flown to Andrews Air Force Base, which also received the body of his brother, John F. Kennedy, after his 1963 assassination in Dallas. There was to be a prayer service at the base, and another at the U.S. Capitol for Senate staffers. The entourage then was to proceed along the National Mall and into Arlington National Cemetery.
As evening was falling, Kennedy was to be buried there on a hillside near the graves of his slain brothers, JFK as well as Robert F. Kennedy, felled in 1968.
Earlier, the late senator's flag-draped casket — carried by a military honor guard — was wrapped tightly in plastic to guard against a steady rain as it was removed from his brother's presidential library and placed in a hearse for the drive to the church. His widow, Victoria, closed her eyes slowly and appeared to choke back tears as she watched under cover of an umbrella. The family had held a brief and private prayer service at the library in the morning.
The motorcade route was lined with people, some holding “Kennedy-Thanks” signs and one person waving a lone red heart.
“We welcome the body of our friend,” said a priest as the casket entered the church.
Under the soaring dome and saint-covered arches of the basilica, a church Kennedy had frequented almost daily while his daughter, Kara, fought lung cancer at a nearby hospital, over a dozen Kennedy family members accompanied the casket — now covered by a white cloth — down the church aisle. Each strained to touch it.
Kara Kennedy was the first family member to speak at the service, reading Psalm 72. Ten of Kennedy's grandchildren, nieces and nephews offered a set of brief prayers.
Ted Kennedy Jr., the eldest son, told a story from shortly after he lost a leg to bone cancer at age 12, when his father helped him up a snow-covered hill to go sledding with an arm around his waist and words of encouragement. “There is nothing you can't do. We're going to climb that hill together, even if it takes us all day,” he said his father told him. Choking back tears, Kennedy Jr. said: “My father taught me that even our most profound losses are survivable.”
Kara Kennedy Allen, daughter of U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, speaks during her father's
funeral service at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts August 29, 2009.
Anthony Shriver speaks at the funeral Mass for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy at Our Lady
of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009
Senator Edward Kennedy's son, Edward Kennedy Jr., offers remembrances about his father during funeral
services for his father at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts August 29, 2009
Edward Kennedy Jr., hugs his brother Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., at the Roman Catholic Funeral Mass for
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009
Edward Kennedy III reads some his grandfather's own words during the “prayers of the faithful” section
of Senator Edward Kennedy's funeral mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts August 29, 2009
He and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., Kennedy's other son who also spoke, then cried during a long, hard embrace.
The unseasonable cold outdoors, the result of Tropical Storm Danny's path up the Eastern seaboard, was not felt inside the church, which grew warm from the packed crowd. The church's stained-glass windows were opened, and rain could be heard beating down on the cantilevered ceiling and metal gutters.
The invitation-only service included Boston Celtics great Bill Russell, actor Jack Nicholson and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, once an aide to Kennedy. Reflecting the prominence of the attendees, all levels of local, state and federal security personnel lined the church's walls.
Obama met with Mrs. Kennedy privately for about 10 minutes early in the morning, at a Boston hotel long frequented by the family.
Kennedy's career spanned the assassinations of his brothers; the civil rights era and Apollo moon landings; and battles over health, education and immigration. Obama noted that Kennedy's name “graces nearly one thousand laws” and that he penned more than three hundred himself.
But the president focused as much on Kennedy's impact on the nation since first being elected in 1962 as on his outreach to those in need, whether relative or stranger, and his resilience through terrible trials of both his own and others' making — “more pain and tragedy than most of us will ever know.”
The president noted Kennedy lost two siblings by the age of sixteen and saw two more assassinated later. Another sibling, his sister, Eunice, died exactly two weeks before Kennedy himself.
“He narrowly survived a plane crash, watched two children struggle with cancer, buried three nephews, and experienced personal failings and setbacks in the most public way possible,” Obama said. “It's a string of events that would have broken a lesser man … But that was not Ted Kennedy.”
“Ted Kennedy was the baby of the family who became its patriarch, the restless dreamer who became its rock,” the president said, embracing Vicki Kennedy and lightly patting the senator's casket as he returned to his seat.
The white-draped casket of Senator Edward Kennedy sits in front of, from the left; the Senator's stepdaughter
Caroline Raclin, his son, Congressman Patrick Kennedy, daughter Kara Kennedy Allen, son Edward Kennedy Jr.,
his widow Vicki Reggie Kennedy, former President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President
George W. Bush, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, former first lady
Rosalynn Carter and former President Jimmy Carter, during funeral services for Senator Edward Kennedy at the Basilica of
Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts Saturday, August 29, 2009
The final page of the program for the service featured a photo of a smiling Kennedy on the shores of Cape Cod, with a setting sun and a sailboat in the background. True to Kennedy's Democratic roots — the page had a union print shop bug. Despite still-pouring rain, a lone man played a bugle on the motorcade route away from the church.
The somber service concluded four days of public and private mourning.
Kennedy's family has marked his passing at an elaborately organized series of services and events: a Mass at Kennedy's beloved home on Cape Cod on Thursday and a slow motorcade carrying his body from the Hyannis Port compound past Boston sites sentimental to the family. He lay in repose at his brother's presidential library for two days as thousands streamed by.
A rotation of friends, former staffers and others Kennedy touched took turns there for a 24-hour vigil, including the parents of a murdered lifeguard, the family of an Iraq war soldier and the widow of a Sept. 11 terror victim. Friday night, Kennedy was remembered at a bipartisan memorial service.
BOSTON – Ted Kennedy Jr. has saluted his fallen father as his greatest source of love and encouragement through tough times.
The younger Kennedy, who lost a leg from cancer at the age of 12, stood before hundreds of mourners Saturday to memoralize Sen. Edward Kennedy at a funeral Mass in Boston. Kennedy's son said, “Although it hasn't been easy at times to live with this name, I've never been more proud of it than I am today.”
Said Ted Kennedy Jr.: “He was not perfect — far from it. But my father believed in redemption and he never surrendered, never stopped trying to right wrongs, either as a result of his own failings or ours.”
Carolyn Kennedy arrives for the Roman Catholic Funeral Mass for Sen. Edward
Kennedy at Our Lady of Perpetual Hope Basilica in Boston, Saturday, Aug., 29, 2009
Joan Kennedy and Patrick Kennedy arrive for the Roman Catholic Funeral Mass for Sen. Edward Kennedy
at Our Lady of Perpetual Hope Basilica in Boston, Saturday, Aug., 29, 2009
Sen. Edward Kennedy's ex-wife Joan Kennedy, left, talks to singer Tony Bennett during Roman Catholic
Funeral Mass for Sen. Edward Kennedy at Our Lady of Perpetual Hope Basilica in Boston, Saturday, Aug., 29, 2009
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, arrives for the funeral services of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy at the
Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009
Senator Edward Kennedy's brother-in-law Sargent Shriver is escorted to his seat in the church by his
son Anthony Kennedy Shriver (R) as U.S. President Barack Obama (3rd L), former President George W. Bush (2nd L)
and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) look on during the funeral services for U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy
at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts August 29, 2009
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife Mary arrive for funeral services for U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy
at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts Sturday, August 29, 2009
Actor Jack Nicholson sits in the pews before funeral services for U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy
at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts August 29, 2009.
Sen, John McCain, R-Ariz., waves as he arrives for a Roman Catholic Funeral Mass for Sen.
Edward Kennedy at Our Lady of Perpetual Hope Basilica in Boston, Saturday, Aug., 29, 2009
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., arrives for the Roman Catholic Funeral Mass for Sen. Edward Kennedy
at Our Lady of Perpetual Hope Basilica in Boston, Saturday, Aug., 29, 2009
Former NBA Boston Celtics player Bill Russell (R) arrives for the funeral services for U.S Senator
Edward Kennedy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts August 29, 2009.
Singer Tony Bennett (L) and his wife Susan Crow arrive for the funeral services of U.S Senator Edward
Kennedy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts August 29, 2009
Former Vice President Dan Quayle arrives for a Roman Catholic Funeral Mass for Sen. Edward Kennedy
at Our Lady of Perpetual Hope Basilica in Boston, Saturday, Aug., 29, 2009
Jean Kennedy Smith, sister of Sen. Edward Kennedy, attends the Roman Catholic Funeral Mass for
Sen. Edward Kennedy at Our Lady of Perpetual Hope Basilica in Boston, Saturday, Aug., 29, 2009
Placido Domingo and Yo Yo Ma greet after their performance at the Roman Catholic Funeral Mass for
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009
The casket of Sen. Edward Kennedy arrives for Roman Catholic Funeral Mass at Our Lady of
Perpetual Hope Basilica in Boston, Saturday, Aug., 29, 2009
The casket containing the body of U.S Senator Edward Kennedy arrives at the Basilica
of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts, August 29, 2009
The casket containing the body of U.S Senator Edward Kennedy arrives at the Basilica of Our Lady of
Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts, August 29, 2009.
An honor guard places the casket of Sen. Edward Kennedy into a hearse at the John F. Kennedy
Presidential Library in Boston on the way to the funeral Mass, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009
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Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.
Reviewed by: Michael Howard