Tuesday, January 6, 2009 10:57 AM EST
Clinton praises late RI Sen. Pell for serving poor
NEWPORT (AP) — Former President Clinton praised late Rhode Island Sen. Claiborne Pell during his funeral service Monday as a quirky multimillionaire who served the less-fortunate and enabled millions of Americans to afford college.
Pell, a Democrat, died Thursday at the age of 90 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
While a freshman at Georgetown University, Clinton had a dorm room that overlooked the backyard of Pell’s home and watched his family, whom he described as “American royalty.” After winning the presidency, Clinton received a tour of the home and noticed the portraits of Pell ancestors in white wigs.
“Where I came from, only people who were bald wore wigs, and they weren’t white and curled,” Clinton said. “Even after all those years, I still felt as I did when I was a boy: that there was something almost magical about this man who was born to aristocracy but cared about people, like the people I grew up with.”
During the funeral Mass at Trinity Episcopal Church in Newport, Sen. Edward Kennedy described Pell as polite fighter with a long list of legislative achievements. Vice President-elect Joe Biden called Pell ahead of his time for supporting the United Nations.
The line of mourners waiting to get inside the church stretched around the block.
Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed and Pell’s grandson, Nicholas Lorillard Pell, also were to eulogize the former senator.
First elected to the Senate in 1960, the multimillionaire who sometimes jogged in a tweed coat spent his career representing a working-class state. He sponsored legislation creating the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant program, which passed in 1972 and provided direct aid to college students. By the time Pell retired, the grants had aided more than 54 million low- and middle-income Americans.
Pell was also the main Senate sponsor of the 1965 law creating the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He participated in the 1945 San Francisco conference that wrote the United Nations charter and served in the U.S. foreign service for seven years.
Pell left office in January 1997 after his sixth term.
Pell, a Democrat, died Thursday at the age of 90 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
While a freshman at Georgetown University, Clinton had a dorm room that overlooked the backyard of Pell’s home and watched his family, whom he described as “American royalty.” After winning the presidency, Clinton received a tour of the home and noticed the portraits of Pell ancestors in white wigs.
“Where I came from, only people who were bald wore wigs, and they weren’t white and curled,” Clinton said. “Even after all those years, I still felt as I did when I was a boy: that there was something almost magical about this man who was born to aristocracy but cared about people, like the people I grew up with.”
During the funeral Mass at Trinity Episcopal Church in Newport, Sen. Edward Kennedy described Pell as polite fighter with a long list of legislative achievements. Vice President-elect Joe Biden called Pell ahead of his time for supporting the United Nations.
The line of mourners waiting to get inside the church stretched around the block.
Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed and Pell’s grandson, Nicholas Lorillard Pell, also were to eulogize the former senator.
First elected to the Senate in 1960, the multimillionaire who sometimes jogged in a tweed coat spent his career representing a working-class state. He sponsored legislation creating the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant program, which passed in 1972 and provided direct aid to college students. By the time Pell retired, the grants had aided more than 54 million low- and middle-income Americans.
Pell was also the main Senate sponsor of the 1965 law creating the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He participated in the 1945 San Francisco conference that wrote the United Nations charter and served in the U.S. foreign service for seven years.
Pell left office in January 1997 after his sixth term.
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