President Obama to deliver eulogy at Ted Kennedy’s funeral
From the Times of India:
In a touching gesture, US President Barack Obama will deliver a eulogy at the funeral mass of Senator Edward Kennedy on Saturday.
Quoting White House officials
, The Boston Globe said Obama will deliver a eulogy at Kennedy’s funeral mass, which has been scheduled for Saturday at The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Mission Hill section of Boston.
Kennedy (77), who died on Tuesday after battling cancer, would be laid to rest at the Arlington National Cemetery, along the graveside of his other two brothers- Senator Robert F Kennedy and former President John F Kennedy.
The service will be a private, family-only affair at the national shrine, located just across the Potomac River on a bluff overlooking the capital city, The Boston Globe said.
“The nation’s resting place for its heroes, Senator Kennedy spent more days than most at Arlington visiting the graves of his beloved brothers and paying tribute to the fallen men and women of Massachusetts who gave their lives for our country,” said a statement issued by Kennedy’s office.
Obama, who earlier called Kennedy “the greatest United States Senators of our times”, issued a proclamation according to which US flag shall be flown at half-staff till August 30.
From the Boston Globe:
President Barack Obama will deliver a eulogy at US Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s funeral Mass on Saturday, a White House official has told the Globe.
Kennedy’s funeral will be held at a time yet to be determined Saturday morning at The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Mission Hill section of Boston. Commonly known as the Mission Church, the 1,450-seat basilica on Tremont Street was built in the 1870s. Kennedy prayed there in 2003 while his daughter, Kara, was being treated for lung cancer.
Obama was a political kindred spirit with Kennedy and the two became particularly close after Kennedy endorsed him for president before the Super Tuesday primaries. In a dramatic moment at the Democratic National Convention in August, the ailing Kennedy electrified the crowd with a speech that seemed intended to pass the Kennedy family torch to Obama.Obama paid tribute this morning to Kennedy, appearing before the cameras to call him an “extraordinary leader” and “one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy.”
“Over the past several years, I’ve had the honor to call Teddy a colleague, a counselor, and a friend,” he said. “For his family, he was a guardian. For America, he was a defender of a dream.”
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