he sang with his heart. singing notes is easy. singing from your heart is hard. and he sang as he lived his life and as he did everything else. there's a song that i sang for him at one of his birthdays quite a few years ago. i can't sing it now without thinking of him. it's about someone making the impossible dream possible. it's the quest that's important. and the song will forever share a very special place in my heart. ♪ to dream the impossible dream to fight the unbeatable foe to bear with

unbearable sorrow ♪ ♪ so run where the brave dare not go to right the unrightable wrong ♪ ♪ to love pure and chaste from afar ♪ ♪ to try when your arms are too weary ♪ ♪ to reach the unreachable star this is my quest ♪ ♪ to follow that star no matter how hopeless no matter how far ♪ ♪ to fight for the rights without question or pause

to be willing to march into held for a heavenly cause ♪ ♪ and i know to be true to this glorious quest ♪ ♪ that my heart will lie peaceful and calm when i'm laid to my rest ♪ ♪ and the world be better for this that one man ♪ ♪ scorned and covered with scar s still strong with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable star ♪ ♪ this is my quest to follow that star ♪

♪ no matter how hopeless no matter how far ♪ ♪ to fight for the rights without or pause to will be willing into hell ♪ ♪ for a heavenly cause and i know if i eel only be true to this glorious quest ♪ ♪ that my heart will lie peaceful and calm ♪ ♪ when i'm laid to my rest and the world will be better for this that one man ♪

♪ scorned and covered with scars ♪ ♪ still strong with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable star ♪ [ applause ]

>> whew. senator kennedy's grandfather, as you all know, has presided over this city many years ago. the senator enjoyed a working and friendly and warm relationship. the incumbent mayor of the city of boston, we welcome him this evening, the honorable thomas manino. >> thank you, paul. as long as you don't ask me to sing. i got thrown into the choir when i was in the eighth grade and i haven't sang since.

ted kennedy was my friend. i feel tremendous sadness today, but also a sense of pride. the history books will show that boston wasn't just a cradle of liber liberty. it birthed champion, too. senator edward m. kennedy was born here. angela and i together with all bostonians are mourning a native son. some of our neighbors have met t

ted. they're trained in our hospitals, educated in our schools. they stepped foot on to the greenway. they knew his work. our thoughts and prayers are with vicki and the entire kennedy family. the imprint across the city is indelible. the new edward kennedy institute, a lasting legacy of the kennedys from boston. i hate to say it in these tough financial times, but we need to buy some more red paint to extend the freedom trail. i had the privilege of serving in the office of teddy's grandfather once held. fritz would have a good laugh at

teddy and me sitting together at fenway park. teddy call med up one day and said let's go to the ball game next week. it was a very cold night, we decided to go. i said teddy, i'll get a seat upstairs in the luxury boxes. he insisted we stay out in the skybox so to be with the people. by the fourth of fifth inning, senator kennedy finally leaned over to me and said, mayor, i love the people. but it's freezing my bottom off. i'll always be thankful that he worked so hard to bring the democratic national convention to boston. it put our city on display to the world, but it also gave senator kennedy and me reason to spend so much time together. we worked hard.

we worked relentlessly. we had tremendous fun doing it. we played so much good cop-bad cop that i couldn't remember sometimes what role i was supposed to play. senator kennedy would say to the person, john, umm, i would like to see $1.5 million from you folks. half an hour later, the person would call me up and say does he really mean that? i said i suppose if you gave us $1 million we would be happy. that's what happened so many times when we were raising money for the democratic national convention. one of the great high lites of his career was addressing that great convention. today, teddy calls boston a place where every street is history's home. that's true of the old north church and fenial hall.

it's true of all the places kennedy walked. teddy was always out front on the issues. it's something i admired and tried to emulate. sometimes it got us into trouble. several years ago, began the green revolution. we were going to a green event together. i was driving around in a compact hybrid. i complained all the time it was tiny. well, our staff thought -- staff always gets you in trouble -- the staff thought it would be a good idea to ride to the attend the event together in my small hybrid. it was really too small for me and certainly too small for the two of us. we were like two overgrown peas

in a pod. we sought alternate transportation, but we never stopped fighting for progress together. on occasion of teddy's 70th birthday, i threw a party for him in boston. made him an honorary harbor master. i mention it because thinking about him that day make mess smile. the senator took it a bit too seriously. but set out to try to actually direct traffic on boston harbor. i mention it also because i think it was a role suited to him. the harbor master is a guardian. he watches over the tired and the weary and the worn out. that was ted kennedy. when the phone rings, i must tell you, the voice at the end

of the line, when debates rage, i'm sad he won't echo the well of the senate. the sound -- but the sound of school kids accepting diplomas, immigrants taking the citizenship oaths. neighbors offering neighbors a helping hand will forever hear his call for justice. i'll always hear the familiar tunes of a loyal friend. i also would like to say that we helped the academy in the city of washington, one of our pilot schools. he was dedicated to health care. i sent a letter to the board of trustees the other day and we're going to name that school after edward m. kennedy. all they do is train kids to get into the health care field and

we know teddy, how much he loved health care, how he believed it and led the charge. and shortly, we will have reforms in health care. i want to make sure that school in boston reminds everybody how hard headdy fought for those things. vicki and family, thanks, thank you for what you are. thank you. [ applause ] john culver was a harvard classmate of senator kennedy's, football teammate, worked in his senate office, went back home to iowa, served in the congress of the united states, and then the

senate of the united states. a great friend for a long time, john culver. >> thank you very much, paul. to vicki who, as orrin hatch said, really was the love of ted's life, to his sister jean smith who always told me she was ted's favorite sister, and to all the children. ted's children, vicki's children, and all the extended kennedy family. and in a real sense, everyone here in the room who i think feels very strongly part of that extraordinary family. it was in the winter i believe, of 1975 when ted called me and

said that i would like you to come up to boston with me, and they suggested several sites for the john f. kennedy museum and library and i would like you to come along. so i did, and i remember, it was a winter day. rather cold and overcast and there was snow on the ground. and when we came to this particular place and looked across dorchester bay, saw boston, saw the water. ted turned to me and he said, you know, i think jack would like this place. and of course, it wasn't many years later this library was built, and i think we all agree jack would really like this place.

but also. i was reminded again as i came here to the library of that little sailboat out front, the ventura, which joe kennedy talked about. and i have a fond memory, i guess it's a fond memory of the ventura myself. and it was when ted and i one time were in summer school in 1853 at harvard. and ted said to me one day, you know, why don't you come with me this weekend. i'm going down to the cape and it's a lot of fun. there's going to be a sailboat race. it's called the nantucket regada. it's a lot of fun. i want you to come down and be part of my crew for that

sailboat race. i said i'm sure that's an honor, but i've never been on a sailboat. i think i've seen a picture of a sailboat. i said i come from iowa, and the only boat i ever saw were barges on the mississippi river. well, he said, there's nothing to it. there's nothing to it. how many times have we heard ted say, there's nothing to it? at that time, we were both young. i didn't quite understand that comment. i grew to understand later. i said okay. so we got in the car and ted and i were driving down to the cape, and he turned on the car radio and we were enjoying the trip, listening to some music. and this was on friday afternoon. and suddenly the radio broadcast was interrupted with a bulletin. and the bulletin said serious storm warnings.

and it said danger at sea, don't anyone go out in the ocean. and i said well, ted, i guess the sailboat trip is off. oh, there's nothing to it. and i said, well the fellow on the radio thought there was something to it. he said there's nothing to it. so i said, he must know what he's doing. you know, he lives down there. and i've never been on the ocean. so when we got down, when we got down to the house, when we got down to the kennedy house, it was about 3:00, 4:00 in the afternoon. and there were dark, black storm clouds gathering, but i said ted, it looks kind of scary. and he said, nothing to it.

i said we, i'm hungry. he said i'm hungry, too. so it was about 3:00 and we missed lunch. we went in and went right to the kitchen where i often went with him when we were down there, right to the kitchen. and the cook was still there and he said, i'm just finishing up here, but i have some leftover salmon salad mix and i could make you boys some sandwiches if you like. i thought, well -- we both thought that was a good idea. we didn't have a lot of time, he said, so i only had two salmon salad sandwiches. and i had a quart of milk with it. i would have had more, but we didn't have time.

so ted says come on, we've got to get going now. and now it's about 4:00. and so we get out, and in those days, they didn't have all the fancy docks and everything. even around the family compound. it was just kind of a beach as i remember. and he said we've got to get in the boat. i said okay, i looked out on the horizon, looking for this boat. i said where's the boat. he said there's the boat. well, if any of you have seen the maya out front, that was the boat. the maya is exactly 20 -- i mean, the -- excuse me, not the maya. the ventura. you've seen that little boat out front. that's the boat i'm talking about. that's the boat he pointed out saying we were going on a sailboat race with. it's 26 feet long. and ted and i both weighed over 200 pounds. we were both over six feet tall.

and i said -- he said that's it, that's the boat, let's get it out in the water. so i did what i could to help him get out in the water. there are huge waves now. there was thunder, there was lightning. the sky was black. and i could hardly get in the boat. it was bouncing so much. and he's at the -- i guess the till or something. and suddenly, i was -- i realized this friend of mine that i thought i knew quite well started screaming at me, shouting at me. i was terrified. and after a while i was more terrified of him than the storm. and i didn't know this man. and so, so he kept screaming at

me the spinnaker, the jib, port side, security that, you know, whatever. and, you know, ted is not always easy to understand when you know what he's talking about. and here it was with a roar, an incredible roar now, the ocean, and the waves and this little tiny -- it's like a cork on a -- we're being bounced all over and it's my fault. and so i'm just hanging on for dear life. we only got about 200 miracle yards out and i lost the sandwiches, and i thought -- i thought i was going to die. and i had never been so miserable. hanging over the side of the boat, and he's screaming at me.

i mean, do you think he said hey, i'm sorry, do you feel bad? forget it. and so somehow, somehow i pulled myself together. somehow we righted this boat in this incredible storm. really unbelievable. it still scares me thinking about it. so we finally, finally get all the way over to nantucket. it's 11:00 at night. and i'm saying to ted, well, which motel do we stay in? and ted says we're not staying in a motel. i said we aren't? we're all wet and we're all cold. where are we staying, teddy? we're staying on the boat. so i mean, i realized then i was with something out of captain ahab out "mobey dick." so believe it or not, there were

four cushions. and they were, of course, all wet and everything. he took two -- i wanted to take three, but he took two. i took two. we pull the boat up on the beach and that's where we spent the night. well, this was a lot of fun so far. so the next day, the next day we got up and we needed a third man on our crew, ted said. i didn't have any idea what we needed. i needed a lot more than one more man. so we go walking down to nantucket and sure enough there's this poor little guy who was a salesman at a shop in cambridge. and ted went up and said would you like to go sailing with us today? and the poor kid said, yeah, yeah he shanghaied him.

just like i was, he pulled him on the boat and me on the boat and off we go for the races. so the races start, i guess. all i remember is him yelling, yelling, yelling. he always claim ed when i was there with the guy that i would say, you heard him, get up there. i didn't see anything but this cold water come pouring on me. sun burned, it was a nightmare. i didn't see any other boat bus we kept going around and around and around. so finally, finally, this thing was mercifully over. and ted seemed satisfied. i had no idea. probably i was satisfied, i lived through it.

but i looked and it was like a mirage. here's this great big yacht, and it was the honey fitz. and ted sort of wanted to surprise me. we all know how much ted has making his friends uncomfortable at times. and he hadn't told me, but ambassador kennedy had come out to watch the race and had brought three or four of his friends along and they were out there in the big honey fits, named after ted's grandfather. i had never saw anything that looked so good to me. he said we're going to get aboard the boat and we're going to, you know, they're going to tow the ventura back behind the boat. i thought my god, this is okay. so we come along side the honey

fitz. i'm like eddie from "south pacific." on the boat, starving to death out there in the water. cold, cold, cold, miserable. and i remember ambassador kennedy had a mega phone and he leaned over the side of the boat. good race, good race, teddy. but i have some bad news for you. the captain says the sea is far too rough to tow you boys back on that boat so you'll have to sail back. i mean, i couldn't believe my ears. i wanted to jump out of the boot, taboo boat, take my chances they might pick me up. but he said i have something for you here in this container erco. it's clam chowder, hot, vacuum packed. and he's lowering it over a rope and teddy always claimed that i grabbed it, tore the rope off,

ripped off the top without opening it. and proceeded to chugalug the whole con teen and the only thing that i missed was what was on my t-shirt. i don't think it's entirely true that i drank all of it. but i drank most of it. they pull the rope up and we're on our own again. i was 24 hours now on this boat. going back wasn't as bad. we now get in sight of hyannis. after how many hour, i don't know. but you could see the lights of the house probably ha a mile away. and i thought boy, there will be a hot shower in no time.

and suddenly the boat just stopped, the ship just stopped. there was no wind. i could shee -- see the house. i didn't know how we were going to get there. it was too far to swim. i said what do we do now? he said we get out of the boat. one has to push and the other pull the rope ahead of the boat. you can't believe it, can you? i couldn't believe it. so after 24 hours on this boat, now it's 11:00, midnight, something. we climb out of that boat into the water again. and he's pulling and i'm pushing. and after a while we get -- we finally make it to shore. well, when we were back in summer school, it was a whole week before i could get the seaweed taste out of my mouth. but, you know, in the following years i was fortunate to take many, many sailboat trips with

ted. not only around hyannis and the islands, but also to maine, also to the caribbean, also to the greek islands. those were some of the most memorable, memories i could enjoy. always full of fun, joy and laughter. and ted was awfully good about it. i never learned how to sail, but teddy always gave me a pass on those voyages. smooth sailing, teddy. thank you.

>> if our sides aren't too sore if laughter, the boston community choir.

♪ ♪ just a close walk with thee grant it, jesus is my plea ♪

♪ daily walking close to thee ♪ let it be dear lord let it be i, i'm weak but thou art strong ♪ ♪ jesus keep me from all wrong i'll be satisfied as long as i will ♪ ♪ take my hand and walk with with thee ♪

♪ just a closer walk with thee just a closer walk with thee ♪ ♪ just a closer walk with thee ♪ grant it sooe justice is my plea daily walking close to thee ♪ ♪ grant it, jesus is my plea daily walking close to thee ♪ ♪ daily walking close to thee daily walking close to thee ♪ ♪ daily, daily, daily ♪ oh, let it be ♪ through this world of toil and snares if i falter lord who cares ♪

♪ who with me my burden share s s ♪ ♪ none but thee dear lord none but thee ♪ ♪ just a closer walk with thee grant it jesus is my plea grant it jesus if you please ♪ ♪ daily walking close to thee daily walking close to thee ♪

♪ daily walking close to thee daily, daily, daily ♪ ♪ o let it be ♪ when my feeble life is over time for me will be no more he will guide me safely over ♪ ♪ oh lord lead me to thy kingdom shore ♪

♪ just a closer walk with thee just a closer walk with thee ♪ ♪ thank you, jesus if you please thank you, jesus if you please ♪ ♪ daily walking close to thee daily walking close to thee ♪ ♪ daily walking close to thee daily walking close to thee ♪ ♪ oh let it be ♪ ♪ just a closer walk with thee just a closer walk with thee ♪ ♪ grant it jesus if you please

grant it jesus if you please ♪ ♪ grant it, jesus if you please daily walking close to thee daily walking close to thee ♪ ♪ daily walking close to thee daily walking close to thee ♪ ♪ daily daily daily ♪ ♪ daily daily daily ♪ ♪ daily daily daily ♪ ♪ daily daily daily ♪ ♪ daily lord let it be

♪ daily daily daily ♪ ♪ daily daily daily ♪ ♪ ♪ lord walk with me

>> ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming a good friend of senator kennedy and all of ours, the vice president of the united states, joe biden. >> thank you very much, paul. vicki and all the children. john used to regale us like that all the time at lunch in the senate dining room. and john is acting like teddy always took advantage of him. you should have seen it when they both teamed up on somebody else. john and i remembered we were talking about angola once and you and teddy were working out a

deal with some of our more conservative friends and you agreed on a particular course of action. and i was along with your colleague dick clark. you and dick and teddy and myself in teddy's office. and being nooif as i was as a young senator, we started about how we were going to approach this issue on the floor, and teddy said we've got to do this. and i satd but -- i said, but that's not what we said. we told these guys were going to do that. and teddy very politely tried to say to me, well, no, this went on far few minutes. and finally, john, in a roaring voice said biden, what the hell do you think this is? boy state? that was my introduction to the squeeze over kennedy and culver,

what the hell do you think this is? boy state? >> we're here to celebrate the life of an incredible man. i want to say thanks for your father, thanks for your husband, thanks for your uncle, thanks for your brother. who in an astonishingly and totally unexpected way ended up playing an important part in every critical moment of my adult life. it was literally an accident of history. he crept into my heart and before i knew it, he owned a piece of it. today, i was thinking about how teddy was -- i wouldn't be standing here were it not for teddy kennedy. i wouldn't be standing here as

vice president of the united states. i wouldn't be a united states senator were it not for teddy kennedy. he was the catalyst for my improbable win as a 29-year-old kid. voted to the senate in a year mcgovern only got 30%, 40% of the vote in my state. i was running against a fellow who was extremely popular. we needed something else, and out of the blue, literally, about eight days before the election, teddy kennedy showed up in a neighborhood we referred to as little italy in wilmington, delaware, and drew a crowd who was -- it was actually a dinner of a couple thousand people.

and a community that would vote nationally for the democrats, but on all the statewide offices, always voted republicans. including the senate and the house seats. i ended up winning that neighborhood. i ended up winning by 3,100 votes. and although i don't know for certain, it seems highly unlikely, congressman, i ever would have won were it not for your father energizing people like he did at the end. i remember at the end of a speech he says i only have one problem with biden. i think he's a little too young to be a senator. and literally the next day "the wall street journal" played it straight, kennedy says biden too young for the united states senate. but seven weeks later, when my wife and daughter were killed in an automobile accident and my

two boys were very badly injured and hospitalized. one of them is with me here today, hunter. the other is in iraq. i got a call from your dad. i didn't know your dad too well. i just met him that one time. and here i was an irish catholic kid from scranton, pennsylvania, who only thought of teddy kennedy and the entire kennedy family in sort of a distant terms, hushed tones. and here he was on the phone. not only was he on the phone, but he called me in that hospital almost every day and about every other day i turned around, literally, vicki, there was another specialist from boston, massachusetts, one of your great hospitals, sitting next to me. who i had never asked for and

didn't know i needed, but i needed. he was the prod who convinced me to go to the senate, because i had told my governor after that election, the governor-elect, to be precise, my brother did, to appoint someone else. i didn't want to go to the senate. and it was your brother who came to see me and to tell me that i owed it to my deceased wife and my children to at least be sworn in and stay for at least six months. when i got to the senate, he would come by once or twice a week. i didn't want to be there. i wanted to get the hell home. i didn't want to be around.

and john took me the first time i went to the senate gym. he would come by and take me to the senate gym. i remember the first time he took me. i had never seen any of these players. i got sworn in late. i'll never forget walk into the senate gym and him introducing me to the senators, both of whom were stark naked when i met them. and i remember see thiing oh, my god, senator, how are you? but he never -- he sort of took on the role of being my older brother. he just was there all the time, and i never asked. and i never really could understand, to tell you the truth, at first. i didn't understand why he was going out of his way for me this way. he got me on the committees i

ended up chairing. he was sort of my tutor, exposing this kid from scranton to a world i had never seen and didn't fully understand. i used to go home every night in the beginning. i went home every night for 36 year, but i went home every night as soon as the senate was out and i never once accepted any invitation out of washington. i just wanted to get home. one afternoon, teddy came into my office and said joe, look, this is a piece of advice. this is the fourth invitation you've gotten from the governor to come to one of his dinners. now, i didn't know enough to know that was a big deal. i really didn't. he said joe, you've got to go. i'll go with you. and i'll never forget going into his home in georgetown and sitting -- he was sitting in a

wing chair. i was this 30-year-old kid and he had a way of trying to include everybody in the conversation by talking about a complicated arms control agreement. and this discussion was going on. and all of a sudden he looked at me and said well, joe, what do the young people think about this? i didn't know what to say, john. i was scared to death. here i was a united states senator. so i reached over and picked up an object off the coffee table. i was flipping it back and forth as i answered the questions. and i noticed everyone stiffened

up when i was talking. and the butler came in and said time for dinner and everybody immediately got up and bolted for the dinner table. and your dad grabbed my arm and said put that thing down. he said that cost more than your house. i was flipping a feberge egg in my hand. it seemed like everything i did, he was there. when my character was under attack, i sat with a committee and said maybe i shouldn't chair this committee until this gets settled. and your father stood up and said no, you stay right where you are. i said let me explain. he said before ten/mf colleagues. he said we know you, you don't have to explain a single thing

and walked out of the conference room and walked back into the hearing. you had no idea what that meant to me at my moment because my character had never, ever, ever been questioned. i was sitting in wilmington, delaware, after recuperating six months from two aneurysms. and all of a sudden up my dusty driveway comes a cab. and out jumps teddy kennedy. he had a great big picture frame under his arm. about 2 1/2 by three feet. i was sitting by a pool and he said where can i change? put on his bathing suit, came back out. he said i wanted to give this to

you. he gave me a picture of an irish stag and it said my irish chairman. come back, i need you. he sat there for six hours with me. got a cab, got the train and went back. for 36 years i had the privilege of going to work every morning with teddy kennedy. i had the privilege every day for 36 years to witness history. i had the privilege for the last 20 of those years to sit next to him every single day. and in the process, he had an incredible ill pact on me, and i noticed everyone around him. he constantly renewed my faith in what was possible. i never saw your phat we are a defeatist attitude.

i never saw him petty. i never saw him act in a small way. as a consequence, he made us all bigger. both his friends, his allies, and his foes. his dignity, his lack of vitriole, his lack of pettiness forc forced of the less generous members of our community to actually act bigger than they were. it was remarkable to watch. i think people didn't want to look small in front of him, even the people who were small. the astounding thing to me, after having the consequences of

just, as my mother would say, living long, i've gotten to meet almost every major political figure in the world, and that's not hyperbole. it's literally true. and your father was one of the few i ever met, that at the end of the day, it was never about him. it was always about you. truly remarkable character trait. so many others when it got down to the end, it was about them, not about the others. with teddy, it was never, ever about him. the interesting thing to me is i think the legacy of teddy kennedy -- and it's presumptuous for me to say this, because who

am i to judge? i think it can be measured in no small part as a consequence of how we and america look at one another. how blacks look at white, ou gays look at straight, how straights look at gays. how we literally look at one another. and in turn, how we look at ourselves. because when you were with them, you had to measure yourself against him. you were required to be large enthan you were inclined to be. you know, his death was not unlike his life. as we all know. overcoming pain and loss with a sense of dignity and pride that is amazing.

he met his death in the same brave, generous terms as he lived his life. when the will defies fear, when duty throws the gauntlet down to fate, when honor scores compromise with death, this is heroism. your father was a heroic figure. i'll remember and celebrate his life every single time i see a young adolescent kid coping with rather than cowering from having to make a decision about his sexuality. i'll celebrate your father every single time i see my granddaughter stand up with those boys and smack something over the second baseman's head.

i'll think of your father every time a woman stands up and demands and is granted exactly what she's entitled to. i'll think of your father every time i see an individual walk out of recovery and start a new life, start over again. and vicki, i'll think of you every time i recall those words of christopher marleau who said, come live with me and be my love and we will all the pleasures prove. that's exactly what the two of you did. and everyone can see it. you know, the pundits are writing and they mean well by it this this is the end of an era.

that this is the end of a kennedy era. but i watched at eunice's funeral and i invite everyone to look around this room today. take a look at this incredible family. take a look. i mean it. take a look. take a look at this generation of kennedys. who possesses more talent, more commitment, more grit, more grace than any family i've ever seen. so when they say -- when they say that this is a new end of the kennedy era, i want you to know i realize your parents collectively left america a lot

more than this great library, a lot more than landmark legislation, a lot more than inspirational leadership. they left us you. as maybe as your pop would say. because of you, the dream still lives. thank you for the honor of allowing me to be with you.