McCain tribute caps 2 days of mourning in home state
PHOENIX — Sen. John McCain was eulogized Thursday 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 for the maverick politician that ended with the playing of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden, addressing 3,500 mourners, said he thought of McCain as a brother, “with a lot of family fights.” Biden, a Democrat, served in the Senate with McCain.
The service for the statesman, former prisoner of war and two-time presidential candidate unfolded at North Phoenix Baptist Church after a motorcade bearing his body made its way from the state Capitol past Arizonans waving American flags and McCain signs.
His family watched as military members removed the flag-draped casket from a hearse and carried it into the church. McCain died Saturday of brain cancer at 81.
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.”
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 Lynn Shepherd, 51, of Chandler, Ariz., watches Thursday as the motorcade makes its way to the church in Phoenix. A tearful Joe Biden pays tribute to the late senator — and his longtime friend. took off for Washington for a lying-in-state Friday at the U.S. Capitol, a service Saturday at the Washington National Cathedral and burial Sunday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
Neither Biden nor other speakers uttered President Donald Trump’s name, but Biden made what some saw as a veiled reference to the president when he talked about McCain’s character and how he parted company with those who “lacked the basic values of decency and respect, knowing this project is bigger than yourself.”
Dabbing his eyes at times, Biden also referred to his own son’s death from cancer, saying of the disease, “It’s brutal, it’s relentless, it’s unforgiving.” And he spoke to McCain’s widow, Cindy McCain, in the front row: “You were his ballast.”
At the end of the nearly 90-minute ceremony, McCain’s casket was wheeled out of the church to “My Way,” in tribute to a politician known for following his own path based on his personal principles.
The memorial was laced with humor and featured a racially and ethnically diverse roster of speakers and other participants.
Arizona Cardinals football player Larry Fitzgerald talked about his connection with McCain, a fan of the state’s sports teams. “While from very different worlds, we developed a meaningful friendship,” said Fitzgerald, adding that McCain didn’t judge others on their skin color, gender or bank account but on their character.
As the 11-vehicle motorcade with a 17-motorcycle police escort made its way toward the church, people along the 8-mile route held signs that read simply “McCain,” and cars on the other side of the highway stopped or slowed in apparent tribute.
Firefighters saluted from atop a fire engine on an overpass as the motorcade passed underneath on Interstate 17. One man shouted, “We love you!”