Many tell stories of Kennedy the advocate

BOSTON -- The weather was fair but the mood somber Friday as tens of thousands of mourners walked past the casket of Sen. Edward Kennedy, who lay in repose for a second day in a flag-draped casket at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Kennedy aide Melissa Wagoner said Boston police estimated that 50,000 people paid last respects since public viewing, which ended shortly after 3 p.m., began Thursday night. A private memorial service is scheduled for this evening.

Mourners at the public viewing were greeted by members of the Kennedy family, including 81-year-old Jean Kennedy Smith, the senator's sister and the last surviving Kennedy sibling. Smith, the former U.S. ambassador to Ireland, choked back tears.

"It's a wonderful tribute to Teddy and the lives that he touched," he said of the turnout.

To say goodbye to Kennedy, Sandra Regan came to stand on the steps of her childhood church, St. Stephen's, in the North End. She wanted to honor "everything he achieved in the Senate."

She said wanted to praise him for responding every time she wrote to him about an issue she cared about. And she wanted to say that, in her eyes, Kennedy, whose flaws were as well known in his life as his achievements, had been redeemed.

"He worked very hard to make up for all the mistakes he made as a foolish young man," she said, choking back tears. "And I think he did."

The motorcade bringing Kennedy's body to the viewing Thursday passed St. Stephen's during a three-hour journey that began on the shores of Nantucket Sound and ended at the library, on a point overlooking Boston Harbor. It paid homage to sites with special significance to the family, including St. Stephen's, where Kennedy's mother, Rose, was baptized and where her youngest son later eulogized her.

Along the 70-mile route, thousands of mourners applauded, snapped photos, held up signs that read "Thank you Ted," and wept. The motorcade paused at Faneuil Hall, where the historic bell rang 47 times, once for each year he served in the Senate.

The senator's cortege was reminiscent of President Kennedy's funeral procession through Washington in 1963 or the train that carried Robert F. Kennedy's casket from New York to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The route of the youngest Kennedy brother stayed closer to home: from his family redoubt at Hyannis Port to his Boston offices, from which he could see the spot where his great-grandparents arrived from Ireland.

Near St. Stephen's, the crowd stood just a few feet from the limousines and bus carrying Kennedy's family, 85 strong. Family members rolled down the windows so mourners could see them waving in thanks.

Many of the reminiscences were personal, too. A lot of people in Massachusetts have a story with Ted Kennedy, or his staff, as the hero. Tom McDermott, 50, of Dorchester, said he could not find work as a machinist after he finished treatment for cancer, despite programs giving veterans preference. "I went up to Sen. Kennedy's office and now I'm working," he said. To watch and applaud Kennedy's motorcade was a "small way of saying thank you."

Franca Firicano, 63, came "for all the things he's done that no one even knows about," like the time Kennedy helped friends from South Africa immigrate to the U.S. "They needed to be sponsored, and he sponsored them," she said. The Kennedys, she said, are "Massachusetts royalty," and have been to her since she was a young girl "cheerleading in front of the polls," in Quincy, Mass., for John F. Kennedy's election.

Ted Kennedy's role in championing expanded health insurance, now the center of a political struggle in Washington, brought Patricia Spooner-Walther to tears as she said goodbye outside St. Stephen's. "He was such a champion for people who needed care. I hope it can go forward," said Spooner-Walther, 70, a pastor from Nevada City, Calif. "There are so many people who need care."

Mourners at the library signed a condolence book.

"I felt the need to be close to someone who did so much, and his brothers and his family did so much" for the city and the state, said Carol Jenkins, 55, after she signed the book. "I just wanted to be here and be a part of it."

Contributing: Christina Crapanzano in Boston; Kathy Kiely in Washington; the Associated Press