McCain’s family cries over casket at Ariz. service
PHOENIX — Cindy McCain pressed her face against the flag-draped casket of her husband, U.S. Sen. John McCain, on Wednesday and several of his children sobbed during the first of two services for the statesman and former prisoner of war before he is taken for the last time from the state he has represented since the 1980s.
The private service at the Arizona Capitol marked the first appearance of McCain’s family members since the senator died Saturday of brain cancer. It also began two days of official mourning in McCain’s adopted state before his body is taken to Washington for his burial.
During the service, Gov. Doug Ducey remembered McCain as a senator and internationally known figure as well as a major figure in the history of Arizona.
While Barry Goldwater was an Arizona native, McCain was “Arizona’s favorite adopted son,” the governor said on what would have been the 82nd birthday of McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal Zone while his father served in the military.
“Imagining an Arizona without John McCain is like picturing Arizona without the Grand Canyon,” Ducey said.
Former Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl said he has been with McCain all around the world and he had better instincts on when to assert U.S. power than anyone else he knew.
Kyl said he would miss McCain, whose greatest contribution was national security.
“I will miss him as a friend, and a strong force for America, and the world,” Kyle said.
Sen. Jeff Flake offered the benediction at the service.
Later in the afternoon, the Capitol was opened to the public to pay their respects.
Arizona National Guard members carried the casket into the Arizona State Capitol Museum rotunda, where McCain will lie in state. Black curtains hung in the rotunda. U.S. and Arizona flags encircled the room.
By the time the service ended and the rotunda was cleared, at least 100 people had already gathered outside to wait for the public viewing. Some had traveled for hours from California and elsewhere.
They took shelter from the hot sun under tents erected by security teams while volunteers filled coolers with ice and water bottles.