Service celebrates former congressman Delahunt for helping others

Even in death, former Democratic congressman William D. Delahunt made a crowd laugh.

At his funeral Mass Saturday morning in Dorchester, mourners erupted in laughter and some applause as the Rev. Jack Ahern described a conversation he had had with Delahunt three days before he died on March 30, at 82. His death fell on Holy Saturday, the day between the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday and the resurrection on Easter Sunday.

There is a legend about dying on Holy Saturday, Ahern recalled telling Delahunt. Those who die that day join Jesus in the tomb, where they then accompany him to heaven by clutching his cloak.

“It’s a free pass,” Ahern said he told Delahunt.

Delahunt responded with a smile, according to the priest.

“‘I’ll take the free pass,’ ” Ahern quoted him as saying.

Laughter and some light applause filled St. Gregory Parish.

One of his daughters and two former prosecutors who worked for Delahunt at the Norfolk district attorney’s office also shared remembrances, recalling his devotion to treating others with kindness and making people feel valued.

Kara Delahunt Bobrov said her father embodied the moral values described in the poem “If ” by Rudyard Kipling. He was like the person described in the poem who could “talk with crowds and keep your virtue, / Or walk with Kings nor lose the common touch,” Bobrov said.

The poem was printed in Delahunt’s funeral program.

“He always said to us, ‘Be kind,’ ” Bobrov said.

Marianne Hinkle, a district court judge once described by Delahunt as the “sister I never had,” said he was a “big, strong man who wore his heart on his sleeve.”

“You could see in his eyes how much he cared about you,” said Hinkle, who worked for Delahunt during his tenure as Norfolk district attorney.

She recalled visiting with Delahunt while he was ailing.

Despite his illness, Delahunt was energized by his plans to establish a system for firefighters certified as emergency medical technicians to provide some forms of medical care to patients in their homes, Hinkle said.

Delahunt believed such a program could alleviate strains on hospitals, which are struggling to keep pace with demand, Hinkle said. She told mourners she recently learned a pilot program for Delahunt’s idea will launch in a few months.

“That is quintessential Bill,” Hinkle said. “That’s what he did throughout his entire life. He was determined to use whatever power, influence, and connections he had to make people’s lives better.”

Timothy Flaherty, who also worked for Delahunt at the Norfolk district attorney’s office, said “really all that Bill ever wanted was to make our lives a little bit better and to make all of us a little happier.”

He quoted a poem that opens, “I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one.”

Among the mourners were current and former elected officials who had crossed paths with Delahunt during a political career that took him from the Quincy City Council to Congress. They included former governor Michael Dukakis, who appointed Delahunt as Norfolk district attorney in 1975; John Kerry, the former US secretary of state and top climate diplomat for President Biden; and US Senator Edward J. Markey, who was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives with Delahunt in 1972.

Also there was Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the widow of Edward M. Kennedy, the longtime US senator from Massachusetts. Kennedy lived in Delahunt’s congressional district and the men were friends who sailed together in Nantucket Sound. Joseph P. Kennedy III, a former congressman and Biden’s special envoy to Northern Ireland, also attended.

At the conclusion of the Mass, mourners gathered outside the church, where speakers played a Rod Stewart song, “Forever Young.”