Excerpts from the Service
From Zechariah Chafee's remarks:
What a man. What a life.
Come with me. Let us look at how he lived, and what he was made of. John Chafee said at times that the great shapers of his life were his parents, the Boy Scouts, his wrestling, the United States Marine Corps, and his own family.
From his parents, an upright Yankee, a vivacious Scot, he without a doubt drew his graciousness toward men, women and children of all walks of life. From them as well came his decency and keen sense of the difference between right and wrong.
As for the scouts, not only was he an industrious member of a Providence troop as a boy, but it seems he kept a scout handbook in his Senate office! Examining Article 8 of the Scout law of his day, one finds this stricture: ``A scout smiles and whistles under all difficulties!'' Is this how he came by his trademark good cheer?
Before we lay him to rest, I know my father would love it if I just described a few scenes from his family's life together.
Stand beside him in the crowd, at the fence of the horse show ring, as my sister Tribbie canters in on her lovely pony, Puck. Girl and pony flow around the ring and ripple over the jumps. They'll take the state championship that day.
Now see him at the helm of Windway as she runs before a slight southwesterly off Beavertail. He tosses a long line astern. His children dive and clutch it, shooting along behind the boat like mini torpedoes!
Have a seat now at the big dinner table at Stonecroft, his summer house on the coast of Maine. Listen, as he polls the table, questioning one by one his happy guests on the issues of the day .
``What's your position on the flag burning amendment? Should we give up the Pananama Canal?'' And more recently, ``What would you do with the budget surplus?''
Doesn't he make you think?
It's a summer morn in Maine. The day's still cool from the night before. There he is over by the flagpole, the banner in his hand. See that cluster of small children by his side -- some towheaded, some dark? His grandchildren! Little hands reach up to tug the line -- little faces look aloft. Its up! The Stars and Stripes float on the morning air!
See him now on the summer deck of the two room cabin with the wood stove, where he and mother live when they're back in Rhode Island.
It's evening, the sun sweeps low over the meadows on the far side of the river. The air is still, the tide is high. Egrets hunt along the marshy shallows. Jimmy has brought cheese and crackers to the table. A bourbon glows amber in his glass.
They speak easily together, bound by the love of nearly fifty years.
In closing, as I look out on our President and upon John Chafee's many Senate friends, I recall a large color photograph on my father's office wall. In it, Senator Dole, eyes twinkling, cracks a joke as President Reagan, John Chafee and Senator Alan Simpson bend an ear, amusement alight on their faces.
After the event, my father obtained a copy of the photo, and at a later meeting with the President, slid it down the table towards him and asked him if he'd sign it.
Without missing a beat, Reagan penned a line a slid it back.
It read simply, ``John -- Sometimes it is fun, isn't it?"
Sometimes it is fun, isn't it?
Dad, when you were around, it sure was.
From former Sen. John Danforth's remarks:
In the true meaning of the word, John Chafee was a religious person. He bound us together. That was the nature of his life, and that was the nature of his work in the Senate. He bound his family together and his friends. He bound us together as citizens and politicians and senators. That was John's special work. He would never split us apart. He would always call us together.
We live in a diverse, sometimes fractured country. America's historic challenge is to make one country from many people. But, politics often doesn't do that. Politics is combative. In politics, there's a premium on finding issues that divide us, because divisiveness is a vote getter.
John Chafee bound us together. That's why he was so universally respected in the Senate. We knew that someone had to reach out to all of us, and John was that someone.
If we want to memorialize John Chafee, it should be by more than a building or a bust. We should memorialize him by taking up the work of binding people together. It was the work of John Chafee. It is a truly religious calling.
. . . There are times when a joyful, hopeful person comes into our lives, a person whose enthusiasm is contagious. And when that happens, we, too, are filled with joy and hope. It is a very great blessing.
John's enthusiasm for life blessed each one of us. It fortified our Easter faith.
For us who remember him today, assurances of hope and victory and resurrection are more than hollow words. We don't just hear these words. We experienced them in John. John displayed the resurrection in the joyful way he lived.
It is a blessing we will carry with us for the rest of our lives. For every time we hear of hope, every time we hear of victory, every time we hear of resurrection we can say, ``Yes, we know that to be true. We have seen it with our own eyes. We have known someone who lived that way. We know it to be true because we knew John Chafee.''
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