Chafee to make one last journey to Rhode Island
The senator's coffin will be taken to the State House for a public tribute Friday. On Saturday, several former presidents and other dignitaries plan to attend his funeral.
By JOHN E. MULLIGAN and JONATHAN SALTZMAN
Journal Staff Writers
Sen. John H. Chafee's body will return to Rhode Island today or tomorrow to lie in state Friday beneath the marble dome of the State House where he began his public life.
President Clinton and three former presidents have expressed interest in attending Chafee's funeral on Saturday in Providence. They would be among many dignitaries from Washington and across the country who plan to pay final respects to Chafee.
Chafee, 77, died suddenly of heart failure Sunday night at Bethesda Naval Hospital after 23 years of service in the Senate. As tributes to the former governor and Navy secretary continued to pour in yesterday, family members privately made plans for his final trip home.
The U.S. Senate sergeant-at-arms, James Ziglar, undertook responsibility for the transport of the remains to Rhode Island.
Chafee's coffin will be carried home by military transport plane from Andrews Air Force Base, where an honor guard will see it off. Members of Chafee's family and the commandant of the Marine Corps will be aboard the flight.
On Friday, an honor guard will escort Chafee's body into the State House at 9 a.m. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., the rotunda will be open to members of the public that Chafee began to serve as a young Marine during World War II.
On Saturday morning, the senator's coffin will be borne downtown from the State House, in a military procession, for his funeral at 11 a.m. at Grace Church on Mathewson Street.
Chafee's office stressed that the long list of public officials who may attend is tentative. But those who have expressed an interest include former Presidents George Bush, a Chafee friend since their undergraduate days at Yale, Jimmy Carter and Gerald R. Ford.
President Clinton is said to have considered attending the funeral but the White House had no word yesterday on whether he would.
Many of Chafee's past and present Senate colleagues are expected to fly together to Rhode Island for the final salute. They include his former undersecretary of the Navy, Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va.; former Republican Majority Leaders Bob Dole, of Kansas, and Howard Baker, of Tennessee; and former Sen. John Danforth, of Missouri.
Former Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird, Navy Secretary Chafee's boss during the Nixon administration, has also expressed an interest in attending the funeral.
Chafee's burial will be private.
In the past two days, scores of Rhode Islanders have signed a book of condolences resting on a marble table in the State Room of the Rhode Island Capitol. A framed painting of Chafee, which is draped in black bunting, is propped up behind the table.
The messages in the condolence book illustrate the deep affection Rhode Islanders felt for Chafee:
``We have all lost a good friend.''
``Would that other politicians left such a legacy.''
``He was a good man and had a good heart.''
Among those who signed the book was Shaun Adamec, a 19-year-old sophomore at Providence College. Adamec is active in the Rhode Island affiliate of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. He said he met Chafee several times and praised the senator's efforts to lower the drunken-driving threshold through federal law, although they were ultimately unsuccessful.
Adamec said he and several other activists once visited Chafee's Senate office in Washington, D.C., on short notice after they went to the White House to push for tougher drunken-driving laws. Despite Chafee's busy schedule, he spent a half-hour chatting with them.
``He seemed like a regular guy, but you knew he could get things done,'' Adamec said.
Lucille Dowling, 69, of East Providence, also signed the condolence book at the State House because, she said, she considered Chafee a ``super-great guy.''
He had a stellar record as an environmentalist and steered clear of partisan politics, she said.
``I'm a die-hard Democrat,'' said Dowling, who has been active in East Providence politics. ``But we loved him.''
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