WASHINGTON (WHDH) - American leaders, both past and present, came together Wednesday in Washington, D.C. to remember the life of Ethel Kennedy.
Her celebration of life took place at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, where President John F. Kennedy’s son famously saluted the assassinated president’s casket in 1963. Ethel Kennedy died Thursday, a week after she suffered a stroke.
President Joe Biden attended Ethel Kennedy’s service in the nation’s capital, along with former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
“The woman, who standing alongside her husband Bobby, helped tap the idealism of an entire generation. The matriarch, who instilled a commitment to justice in her children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and helped raise a legion of changemakers and public servants. And she was proud of those roles,” Obama said in a eulogy.
Obama bestowed Ethel Kennedy with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014 for her work advocating for human rights and social justice. He said she captured his attention both through her work and personality.
“She was a big dose in a small package. While Bobby was shy and serious, apparently, Ethel was not. She was a spitfire from a young age,” Obama said.
Clinton in his eulogy remembered the letters the former presidents often received from her. Many contained the photos of the nine children, 34 grandchildren, and 24 great grandchildren she left behind.
“I’ve actually got a picture of it here. I asked for it but I love the little poem: ‘Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m surrounded by love but there’s still room for you.’ I think that’s the way she made us all feel,” Clinton said.
Ethel’s grandson Joe Kennedy III spoke Wednesday on behalf of the family.
“Friends, distinguished guests — as my grandmother would say looking around this incredible place, surrounded by friends, family, and her allies in her many campaigns for justice and peace, ‘Aren’t we lucky?'” Kennedy III said.
The Kennedys held a private funeral service for Ethel Kennedy Monday at a church on Cape Cod.
Ethel will be buried next to her late husband, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, in Arlington National Cemetery.
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