Edward Kennedy’s body lay in state at his beloved hometown of Boston for the second day yesterday, as thousands of people kept pouring in to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library to bid a final farewell to the legendary senator.
Within an hour of the line opening to the public on the first of two days of wake on Thursday, 12,000 people had come to pay their respects to the liberal “lion of the Senate,” a number that nearly doubled in the late-night hours, Kennedy’s office said.
Young, old, black, white and the handicapped made up the diverse throng, all of them waiting patiently. As night fell, Kennedy’s widow, Vicki, was among family members who stood by the flag-drapped coffin and shook the hands of the public.
PHOTO: EPA
“We just wanted to pay our respects and say thanks for all he has done,” said Trisha McLaughlin, 40, said as she pushed her 80-year-old mother forward in a wheelchair.
The body of Kennedy began its final journey on Thursday in the Cape Cod resort of Hyannis Port. The coffin departed the town in a hearse escorted by a convoy of police, black limousines and a bus carrying 85 Kennedy family members.
When the motorcade arrived in Boston, cheers and clapping from well wishers broke out. At City Hall, a huge US flag was unfurled and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino rang a bell 47 times, marking each of the years that the 77-year old Kennedy served in the Senate.
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