Shriver Funeral

Bono sings, fond memories flow at Shriver funeral

By Brett Zongker

Associated Press / January 23, 2011

 

POTOMAC, Md.—His 19 grandchildren read short remembrances, U2 frontman Bono led mourners in singing "Forever Young" and fond memories and laughter filled a funeral service for R. Sargent Shriver, the 95-year-old statesman laid to rest this weekend.

Shriver, the Peace Corps' first director who also ran the 1960s War on Poverty and served as a running mate on an ill-fated Democratic presidential ticket, was buried Saturday evening in a Massachusetts cemetery just hours after his funeral in suburban Washington.

Shriver, who had Alzheimer's disease, died Tuesday in his native Maryland where a funeral Mass was held in Potomac.

At Shriver's service, mourners from Bono to Vice President Joe Biden to former President Bill Clinton paid tribute to the man affectionally known as "Sarge," talking of a life spent serving others.

First lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey attended. Wyclef Jean played the piano and sang "All the Ends of the Earth" as guests -- and Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington -- clapped along. Later, Vanessa Williams performed "Soon and Very Soon." Bono and Glen Hansard, who starred in the movie "Once," sang "Make Me a Channel of Your Peace."

"I was a student really of the Sarge way of doing things," Bono told The Associated Press after singing at the service. U2's lead singer founded the Red Campaign with Shriver's eldest son Bobby to fight AIDS in Africa.

"It's a rare combination of grace and strategy," Bono said of Sargent Shriver.

Clinton spoke of Shriver's legacy of public service.

"Fifty years ago, President Kennedy told us we should ask what we can do for our country," Clinton told the crowd at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church. "A whole generation of us understood what President Kennedy meant by looking at Sargent Shriver's life."

Shriver grew up during the Great Depression, attended Yale University on a scholarship and served in the Navy in World War II. Then, he fulfilled his brother-in-law John F. Kennedy's campaign promise by developing the Peace Corps into a lasting international force.

One by one, many of Shriver's 19 grandchildren read brief remembrances about their grandfather, recalling his passion for helping people, his hugs and his love of baseball.

Maria Shriver, the former NBC reporter and wife of former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said her family took comfort in "knowing that Daddy is in heaven with God and with Mummy."

Shriver was buried later Saturday alongside his wife Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of Special Olympics. The private burial was held at a cemetery in Barnstable, Mass., where family members carried candles as they stepped off a bus under a darkening sky.

Sargent Shriver was a businessman and lawyer descended from a prominent Maryland family. He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for the past eight years. His wife died in 2009 at age 88.

Mark Shriver recalled some of his father's final years in the Potomac funeral service.

"Alzheimer's robs you of so much. In Dad's case, it stripped him to the core," he said. Still, he "would shake your hand and smile, look you in the eye and tell you you were the greatest and that he loves you."

Sargent Shriver was former Sen. George McGovern's running mate in the 1972 presidential election, but the Democrats lost in a landslide to President Richard M. Nixon. Still, Shriver campaigned until the end, even when it was most difficult.

"Sargent Shriver was going to go out with his head held high," Clinton said.

Biden credited Shriver for helping him win his own Senate seat in Delaware during a tough race the same year.

A last-minute visit from Shriver put him over the top in a heavily Republican state at the time. "That's when the sun rose for me," Biden said.

In 1994, Shriver received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. His son Anthony recalled the day his father received that honor, addressing Clinton.

"I'll never forget him there in the White House and you looking at him and giving him one of those big Bill Clinton hugs," he said. "Wow was he high that day."

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Associated Press writer Russell Contreras in Barnstable contributed to this report.