Friends remember ‘American hero’
McCain’s body to lie in state in Capitol Rotunda today
PHOENIX — A former vice president, an NFL star and other friends remembered Sen. John McCain as a “true American hero” — and a terrible driver with a wicked sense of humor and love of a good battle — at a crowded church service Thursday for the maverick politician that ended to the tune of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”
Addressing an estimated 3,500 mourners, former Vice President Joe Biden recalled “the sheer joy that crossed his face when he knew he was about to take the stage of the Senate floor and start a fight.”
Biden, a Democrat who was among the fast friends the Republican senator made across the aisle, said he thought of McCain as a brother, “with a lot of family fights.”
The service for the statesman, former prisoner of war and two-time presidential candidate unfolded at North Phoenix Baptist Church after a motorcade bearing McCain’s body made its way from the state Capitol past Arizonans waving American flags and campaign-style McCain signs.
McCain’s longtime chief of staff Grant Woods, a former Arizona attorney general, drew laughs with a eulogy in which he talked about McCain’s “terribly bad driving” and his sense of humor, which included calling the Leisure World retirement community “Seizure World.”
Woods also recalled the way McCain would introduce him to new staff members by saying, “You’ll have to fire half of them.”
The church’s senior pastor, Noe Garcia, pronounced McCain “a true American hero.”
The service brought to a close two days of mourning for the six-term senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee in his home state.
A motorcade then took McCain’s body to the airport, where it was put aboard a military plane that took off for Washington for a lying-in-state at the U.S. Capitol today, a service at the Washington National Cathedral on Saturday, and burial at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., on Sunday.
The memorial was laced with humor and featured a racially and ethnically diverse roster of speakers and other participants.
Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who is black, talked about his unlikely connection with McCain, a big fan of the state’s sports teams.
“While from very different worlds, we developed a meaningful friendship,” Fitzgerald said, adding that McCain didn’t judge others on their skin color, gender or bank account but on their character.