By BURTON SPEAKMAN
GLASGOW — Sen. Edward Kennedy’s body is being sent Thursday to Boston where thousands are expected to view it.
His body will lie in repose for two days at the presidential library of his late brother John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Although few local residents might have had a chance to meet “Ted” Kennedy, his death provided a chance for reflection from two area residents who were around him.
Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton said that while he never had the chance to meet the late senator, Kennedy’s staff did let him, his wife and daughter tour Kennedy’s office during a visit to Washington D.C. in January.
“They were such nice people. They basically turned over the office to my wife and daughter. We got to go through and look around,” Eaton said. “You could definitely feel the Kennedy mystique.”
The office had a lot of personal photographs of the Kennedy family, Eaton said.
“I’ve also met his son, Patrick, and he couldn’t have been better,” he said.
Senator Kennedy also had a good reputation of working with law enforcement. During previous trips to Washington D.C. by the Kentucky and National sheriff’s associations, Kennedy had the reputation of being one of the nicest, Eaton said.
Kennedy was a senator who was known in Washington for his ability to reach beyond party lines. There were a lot of people who didn’t like Kennedy’s politics, but they did like him and the manner in which he handled things, Eaton said.
“I didn’t always agree with all his policies. But I always felt that Senator Kennedy was looking out for best interests of the poor and the elderly,” the sheriff said.
Glasgow Attorney Walter Baker attended Harvard University at the same time as Kennedy, but the two never met.
“I only saw him once. I had a part-time job taking tickets at the football game and Senator Kennedy was playing,” Baker said.
Kennedy lived in a different residence hall than Baker and graduated in 1956, two years before Baker’s graduation in 1958.
Baker said that he was going back to Harvard for his 50th class reunion at the time when the university was presenting Kennedy with an honorary degree.
“The university gives out honorary degrees but traditionally that person has to attend commencement,” Baker said.
In this case, because of the Kennedy’s failing health, the university went ahead and gave him the honorary degree, making him only the fourth person in the history of Harvard to receive an honorary degree without attending the ceremony. The others were George Washington, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and former South African President Nelson Mandela.
Kennedy was a rare senator in today’s political world, Baker said. He was one of the few who could work with people from both political parties.
Kennedy will be buried Saturday evening near his slain brothers — former President Kennedy and former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy — at Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia. Other family members buried on the famous hillside include former first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis and the former president’s baby son, Patrick, who died after two days.
Kennedy is eligible for burial at Arlington because of his service in Congress, as well as his two years in the Army from 1951 to 1953. He was a private first class and served in the military police at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, located at that time in Paris.
On Wednesday night, the Lightship Nantucket — the vessel that marked limits of the dangerous Nantucket Shoals in Massachusetts for more than 150 years — pulled up outside the Kennedy compound as dusk fell and illuminated the late senator’s schooner as a tribute.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
