Saying good-bye to Chafee
By JONATHAN SALTZMAN
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Former Sen. Claiborne Pell stood frozen on a marble landing in the State House yesterday and stared intently at the casket draped with the American flag.
Inside lay the body of his long-time Senate colleague John H. Chafee. Two Marines in crisp blue uniforms guarded the casket as a long line of mourners snaked by in the rotunda.
Once, Democrat Pell and Republican Chafee were adversaries. Pell beat Chafee in Chafee's first run for the Senate in 1972. Four years later, Chafee won the other seat, and the two went on to serve Rhode Island together for 20 years, enjoying cordial relations.
Pell, who is a frail 80 years old and suffers from Parkinson's disease, gazed wordlessly for several minutes, clasping his hands at his waist. His wife, Nuala, stood by him.
He said later that Chafee's death at 77 had come too soon.
``It's a sad occasion to see a particularly gallant career come to a quick end,'' he said.
About 5,000 mourners, young and old, some politically connected, some not, poured into the State House yesterday to quietly pay their respects to Chafee, who died Sunday of heart failure at Bethesda Naval Hospital outside Washington, D.C.
It was a remarkable tribute to a war hero, governor, Navy secretary and senator who came from patrician Yankee stock but enjoyed the affection of bread-and-butter Rhode Islanders.
His body lay in state beneath the majestic ``Four Freedoms'' mural that decorates the interior of the dome. Chafee began his political career in the building, starting as a state representative from Warwick and rising to become a three-term governor.
A Marine honor guard brought the casket into the State House shortly before 9 a.m. Chafee's wife, Virginia, who was weeping, and five children and several of the senator's 12 grandchildren followed the casket up the steps to the rotunda. Scores of current and former members of Chafee's staff from his Washington and Providence offices lined the pathway and then followed the cortege.
Chafee's family and the employees then held a brief private service that they called a ``Thanksgiving for the Gift of Working for John Chafee.''
The employees read passages from the Bible, speeches from politicians such as President Theodore Roosevelt and Chafee himself, and excerpts from a book about the Korean War titled The Coldest War, which discussed Chafee at length.
``You learned from men like Chafee, a Yalie with a law degree from Harvard, who came from money, a handsome, patrician man, physically courageous and tireless,'' wrote James Brady, a Marine in the rifle company commanded by Chafee. ``From all that could have come arrogance, snobbery. He possessed neither of those traits; he was only calm and vigorous and efficient, usually cheerful, decent and humane, a good man, a fine officer.''
The employees also read passages written by David Griswold, Chafee's chief of staff, who mentioned his boss's ``boundless energy, which inspired and sometimes confounded us; his ability to master complex subjects; his willingness to be in two places at the same time, and his impatience to get to both places faster than we could keep up.''
CHRISTINE FERGUSON , a former Chafee staff member who now directs the state Department of Human Services, brushed tears from her eyes afterward. She worked for Chafee in Washington for 14 years, starting as a direct mail specialist and rising to deputy chief of staff and chief legal counsel.
Ferguson got the latter job after attending law school at night at American University, a pursuit Chafee encouraged.
``He always wanted us to push ourselves to our maximum potential,'' she said, leaning against a marble wall. ``The only thing I can think of [about] why he was taken so soon was to remind us all of how important it is to live life the way he did, with great enthusiasm and boundless joy and integrity.''
Hope Harris, the front-desk receptionist in Chafee's Providence office for 21 years, also participated in the private ceremony.
Chafee always called her the ``heartbeat of the office,'' she said with a laugh, because she knew everything that was going on in the office and fielded calls from constituents.
She kept a log of all calls to the office, pro and con, about Chafee's votes. In February, Harris heard from hundreds of constituents -- most of them angry -- after Chafee said he would vote to acquit President Clinton in the impeachment trial.
Although Chafee was well-born, Harris said, he was down-to-earth and thoughtful. When her sister, Cora, a Chafee campaign volunteer, had breast cancer several years ago, he showed up at her house in South Providence unexpectedly to wish her well. Two weeks later, he attended her funeral, tears streaming down his face.
AFTER yesterday's ceremony for employees and Chafee's family, military officers and members of the public began filing by the closed casket, next to which rested a wreath of red, white and blue carnations and roses.
As is not surprising in the smallest state, several people said they had met Chafee through the years and admired him, even if they didn't always agree with his positions.
Liliana D'Ovidio, of Warwick, met Chafee in the 1950s when he was running for state representative and stopped at her house while campaigning door-to-door. ``He impressed me as being sincere,'' she said.
Her son was also a member of the Brown University wrestling team with Chafee's son Lincoln. Lincoln is now the mayor of Warwick and a candidate for the seat his father planned to vacate in 14 months.
D'Ovidio fiercely opposes abortion and volunteers at the Little Flower Home for unwed mothers in Tiverton, she said. Although she disagreed with Chafee's support of abortion rights, she admired his willingness to buck Republican leaders in the Senate and vote his conscience. Chafee broke with the conservative leadership on issues ranging from health care to Mr. Clinton's impeachment to nuclear disarmament.
If, as some political observers predict, Governor Almond appoints Lincoln Chafee as John Chafee's successor, D'Ovidio said, ``I hope he votes his conscience and stands up to his party like his father did.''
Dennis Langley, the executive director of the Urban League of Rhode Island, was also at the State House. He said Chafee had ``left an indelible mark on the minds of individuals of color'' by supporting programs that fight poverty and would provide health insurance.
One of the mourners, Herbert Hudson, 74, of Barrington, was a veteran of World War II and Korea, as Chafee was. He said the senator was a ``great statesman'' who did what was best for his country, in war and in peace.
``People are forgetting what people like John Chafee did for this country,'' he said. ``He was somebody everybody could look up to.''
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