In death, 'Teddy' remembered as man of the people
Edward Kennedy was born into America's golden elite, but as he lay in
his coffin Thursday it was ordinary folk, like maintenance man Ned
Byrne, who came by the thousand to say farewell.
They formed a line, four people wide, snaking all the way through the
gardens and out into the car park of Boston's John F. Kennedy
Presidential Library.
They waited patiently for hours in the blazing sun, then hours more
in the chill under a half moon, just to spend a few final seconds inside
with the man they called "Teddy."
|
Senator Edward Kennedy (C-R) with his wife Victoria (C-L), son
Ted Kennedy Jr. (L), and daughter Kara Anne. AFP |
"I want to say goodbye and pay my last respects," Byrne, a
57-year-old unemployed maintenance worker, said.
Like almost everyone in Boston and across Massachusetts, Byrne
remembered his own life in parallel to the Kennedy story the
assassinations of JFK and Robert Kennedy, and the tumultuous career of
Edward, who died Tuesday aged 77.
"I grew up with the Kennedys. I remember when John was President,
when Bobby was attorney general and when Teddy became senator," Byrne
said. "They were part of my life."
Silver-haired senator and local hero, Kennedy straddled two worlds
and the scene around his coffin encapsulated that double life.
Servicemen, medals gleaming, stood at attention, with bayonets fixed in
stern tribute to the elder statesmen.
A few feet away, though, relatives demonstrated the charm and common
touch that helped their clan dominate the Democratic Party for half a
century and serve as an unofficial US royal family.
Kennedy's widow, Vicki, headed a line of relatives shaking hands with
the public as the endless procession crept around the closed casket.
Relatives introduced themselves with a smile and asked the names of
well-wishers hugging them at times. Other family members went outside,
working the crowd like the seasoned political animals that many of them
are.
When a woman handed over a framed poem she had composed calling
Kennedy "a great man," Vicki Kennedy asked for her address and promised
to write to her.
Kennedy died rich and powerful. He served in the Senate for 47 years,
kept his holiday house in the ultra-exclusive Cape Cod resort of Hyannis
Port, and was seen as using his privileged background to ride out
personal scandals.
But for the thousands of people paying homage at the side of his
coffin on Thursday he was the archetypal tough, yet warm and generous
Bostonian. "Teddy, my tenacious hero," read one entry in the book of
condolences laid at the entrance to the JFK library.
"Thank you for helping so many people all over the world," another
entry read. Khadija Shah, a 65-year-old nurse, could barely hold back
tears as she approached the coffin. She said Kennedy, a champion of
immigrants' rights, had once helped her family during visa problems.
"He helped me so much. He went through so much and had so much
courage. That gave me hope," she said. "That's why I stood here waiting
for eight hours to get in."
AFP |
