OAG NEPAL

President Barack Obama was among the thousands of people who had gathered on Friday to honour late senator Robert C. Byrd at a memorial service at his home in West Virginia.

With the president, Vice President Joe Bidden and other dignitaries present on one side, pallbearers carried the late senator’s casket to the main courtyard for the service honouring Bryd. Bryd died on Monday at the age of 92.

In his speech to the gathering Obama said that, “I will remember him when I came to know him.” He also said that, “The distinguished gentleman from West Virginia could be found at his desk till the very end doing other people’s work.”

Former President Bill Clinton, Victoria Kennedy, wife of late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were some of those who came to pay their last homage to the late senator.

West Virginians were seen standing atop curbs, craning their necks for better view and were seen clapping to Appalachian music and the West Virginian National Guard’s 249th Army Band playing “Country Roads.”
Bryd’s casket was covered by a West Virginian flag and bouquet of red roses. Among those in the crowd were people who knew Bryd and those who came because of Bryd’s place in U.S. history as a senator for close to 51 years.