Biden eulogizes Dingell as someone who treated everybody with dignity
DEARBORN, Mich. — Longtime Rep. John Dingell knew that jobs were about more than collecting a paycheck and that health care meant more than just good health. Both were about dignity, former Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday while eulogizing the longest serving member of Congress in U.S. history.
Biden told hundreds of people gathered for Dingell’s funeral in a suburban Detroit church that the longtime Michigan congressman treated everyone with respect, including during his record 59 years in Congress. Biden said Dingell, who died last week at age 92, “knew public service wasn’t a title you wear, but a shift you work.”
“He believed without exception that everybody was entitled to be treated with dignity,” Biden said. “Dignity was how John walked. Dignity was how John talked. Dignity was how John carried himself. More than that, it was how he treated everybody. And I mean everybody.”
About 800 people attended the service at Church of the Divine Child in Dearborn, the city where Dingell served and lived, though bad weather prevented some from attending: A military plane carrying members of Congress was turned back — leading to an impromptu service at 30,000 feet.
Missouri Rep. Billy Long tweeted that the service aboard the plane was led by Rep. John Lewis of Georgia and Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, who both had been scheduled to speak during the service, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Biden spoke later during the service, noting that Dingell was among the few congressional leaders he “looked up to.” He said Dingell was indefatigable, fighting for landmark legislation over the decades that included civil rights, Medicare, health care and, before he retired in 2014, saw the health care overhaul signed into federal law in 2010.
Dingell succeeded his father in Congress in 1955, carried on John Dingell Sr.’s wishes by introducing a universal health care coverage bill in each of his terms.
Biden also noted that Dingell loved the University of Michigan and repeatedly sang the school’s fight song, whose refrain begins with “Hail to the Victors.” Yet he noted the victory gloats were for the school, not Dingell’s constituents.
“His life wasn’t about hailing the victors,” Biden said. “It was about focusing on those who suffered, and offering them a hand.”
Kerner noted that Dingell would have celebrated his 38th wedding anniversary on Wednesday with his wife, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, who was elected to replace her husband when he retired from the House.
The mood of the Mass was at times festive, lighthearted and humorous, which Kerner and Biden noted was at Dingell’s request. Biden, known for a loose tongue when he didn’t know microphones were on, began his remarks with, “Bless me, Father, for I’m about to sin.”
Biden concluded by comparing Dingell’s life to a line from “Hamlet,” saying: “He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.”
The service ended with a rousing, brass-blasting version of “God Bless America.”