I don’t think anybody could do a better job than the Boston Globe’s coverage of Senator Ted Kennedy’s motorcade. Now lying in repose at the JFK Presidential Library, Kennedy’s body — in Irish tradition — will never be left alone: family and friends will take turns through the next three days holding vigil.
All along the route, people who had been touched by the senator in many different ways waited hours in the sun to say goodbye: some he helped with a visa or a recommendation, close friends, admirers and those simply inspired by him. “His legacy is what Ted has always said: to serve others,” said Maria Hooton, who grew up down the street from the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port and married one of Kennedy’s friends from Harvard. Their daughter, Patricia, 19, who stood crying next to her mother along the funeral route, was Kennedy’s goddaughter. Inspired by the senator, Patricia just enlisted in the army.
“He always looking to his future and trying to keep people optimistic about what was coming,” Patricia sobbed. “He was such a pillar of strength for everybody, even people who didn’t know him personally.”