Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
Senator Byrd, who was an old colleague of Senator Edward.M.Kennedy (who passed away on 25th August), was present at the funeral ceremony of Kennedy in Boston.

Among the former members of the Congress, old Byrd was one faithful comrade, patiently sitting in his wheelchair at the Capitol steps, waving an American flag at the service.

He is the last U.S. Senator of the 1950s after the demise of the Senator George Smathers of Florida in 2007. He could barely utter his speech coherently last year when he tried speaking about Kennedy’s cancer treatment on the Senate floor. Byrd, who earlier this week requested people to “stop the shouting and name calling” on the debate of health reforms, put forward in the honor of the deceased Kennedy, had stated it as inappropriate agenda and also written “Byrd Rule”. He shared a camaraderie with Kennedy on how America should not be supporting wars and even supported issues against the war in Iraq.

Having heard the tragic end of his comrade Byrd had offered condolences to the family saying, “God bless his wife Vicky, his family, and the institution that he served so ably, which will never be the same without his voice of eloquence and reason. And God bless you Ted. I love you and will miss you terribly.”

The last prayers for the deceased Senator ran like, “Though in the sight of the people your servant Senator Ted Kennedy suffered greatly and took on enormous tasks, Lord you knew his hopes were unquenchable, full of immortality.” The funeral mass also had some irrelevant talking of Roland Martin’s nostalgia about his days as an altar boy.