NEWPORT -- Hundreds came to in the City by the Sea today, from a former U.S. president to an incoming vice president, from a Liechtenstein prince to everyday people, their different stations in life a tribute to Rhode Island's former U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell, an aristocrat revered for caring for the common man.

The mourners arrived at the off-white clapboard Trinity Church, some by motorcades and limousines, for the 10 a.m. funeral service for Pell, who died at age 90, just a few minutes into the New Year, at his Newport home. He had been suffering from Parkinson's disease.

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach

An honor guard escorts the casket carrying former U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell's body into Trinity Church in Newport, where family members, political dignitaries and more filled the boxes and balconies in the Colonial-era building.

They heard former President Bill Clinton speak of how Pell's carrying around a frayed light-blue copy of the United Nations charter inspired the future president to study up on the charter -- in case Pell ever quizzed him on it.

They heard Vice President-elect Joseph Biden recall that after he was elected to the Senate and lost his wife and child in a car accident, the Pells were among the first to reach out to him.

They heard longtime Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s voice rise with enthusiasm as he spoke of his fellow Democrat.

The mourners left to the strains of "Onward Christian Soldiers," an old English hymn, sung by a choir and accompanied by the church's famed pipe organ.

As a Coast Guard honor guard brought Pell's casket out of the church around 11:47 a.m., an older woman's sobs filled the quiet street. Angelina Rochefort said she has been the housekeeper for the family for the past 35 years. She washed, ironed and pressed his clothes.

"I loved Senator Pell," she said, still crying.

She said she wanted to touch the casket, but a police officer said she couldn't. That, she said, broke her heart.

"I love that family a lot," she added.

The funeral began with four minutes of perfect precision. The U.S. Coast Guard's Ceremonial Honor Guard, which arrived in Rhode Island last night from Washington, brought Pell's body into Trinity Church beginning at 8:41 a.m.

One of the honor guard members spoke commands as the other five followed, "Step, step, step," as they were pulling the casket out of the hearse.

He paused, then said, "Heads." All of them raised their heads and looked across the dark wooden casket at each other.

Slowly they walked up a slate walkway that was wet but not icy, up a few stairs and into the north side of the Colonial-era Episcopal church.

Sen. Kennedy was the first to give a eulogy. He lauded such Pell accomplishments as the key role in creating the Pell Grants as well as the legislation establishing the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanites.

Kennedy called Pell an "extraordinary man, a respected leader, a valued colleague and a wonderful friend."

He described Pell as a gentleman and a gentle man, saying "on the outside he was calm and composed, but deep down he was a real fighter."

Biden spoke of blueblood Pell's many Senate accomplishments, but also the kindness that Pell and his wife, Nuala, showed Biden during tragedy.

Pell was "more than a great senator," Biden said. "He was a mentor. He was my friend, and I'm honored to be able to speak of him today."

When he lost his wife and child, Biden said, the Pells' response wasn't anything that "smacked of politics. It was you acting as if your heart was as broken as mine. You made your home my home."

Clinton, mixing history and humor, spoke to Pell's quirkiness and accomplishments, particularly his fight for the less fortunate despite his wealthy upbringing.

"He was the right kind of aristocrat," Clinton said to the gathered. "A champion by choice, not by circumstance, of the common good, our common future, and our common dreams."

He referred to Pell's most quoted accomplishment, creating the college grants for underprivileged students that later bore his name, the Pell grants.

"This remarkable man cared about people who unlike him could not afford to go to college without a little help from their goverment," Clinton said.

Clinton said his first term as president coincided with Pell's last Senate years. Clinton said he became aware of Pell long before that when, as as a Georgetown University freshman in Washingtin 1964. Clinton said his dorm room looked down on the Pell family's backyard.

Rhode Island's senior U.S. Sen. Jack Reed rounded out the four who gave eulogies. Reed thanked Pell and his family for their service.

"Claiborne Pell dedicated his life as selfless service to Rhode Island and to the nation," Reed said, crediting the man Reed called the "commanding political presence" in his youth.

In his 36 years representing Rhode Island in the U.S. Senate, Reed said, "Claiborne Pell represented the ideal of what a public servant should be."

Pell, he said, was a "visionary thinker," a man who mixed wisdom and compassion, who mastered many things -- but small talk -- and believed in, and promoted, bipartisanship.

"Your presence here," Reed said, addressing the U.S. senators -- Democrats and Republicans -- in attendance, "speaks volumes about the respect and esteem that Claiborne Pell earned."

Among the politicial notables and other luminaries were: U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I.; U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass; U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn; and U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and his wife, Hadassah.

Rhode Island governors were also represented, including current Governor Carcieri, and former Governors Bruce Sundlun and Edward DiPrete. Also present were Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch and Rhode Island Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis.

A prince of Liechtenstein came, as did former Rhode Island Congressman Ferdinand St. Germain.

The service ended shortly after 11 a.m. with closing remarks from the Right Rev. Geralyn Wolf, Episcopal bishop of Rhode Island.

After the funeral service, about 300 people gathered at Salve Regina University's Pell Center for International Relations & Public Policy to pay their respects to the family of Pell.

A group of people surrounded his widow, Nuala O'Donnell Pell, as she entered the center room after services for the senator this morning at Trinity Church.

Around her, waiters served coffee and hors d'oeuvres, including prosciutto and melon and finger sandwiches of lobster and chicken salad, tomato and mozzarella, and beef tenderloin.

The stately building was alive with voices, as family and friends gathered in a salon featured carved ceilings and a crystal chandelier. Some are looking down at the scene from a second level reached by a grand staircase.

In one room, a revolving video presentation played for the hundreds of mourners, opening with a "Happy 90th Birthday Sen. Pell" image -- Pell had turned 90 in November -- and then recounting his life through family photographs and newspaper clippings.

One of those clippings seemed to perfectly capture the man whose friends and relatives recollected on their eulogies: "Pell: A Gentleman and a Statesman."

––With reports from projo.com staff writer Maria Armental and Jack Perry and Journal staff writers Kater Bramson, Tom Mooney and G. Wayne Miller