John McCain’s widow, Cindy, daughter, Meghan, and other family members bade emotional farewells to the late senator on Wednesday as they stood at his flag-draped coffin during the first of two days of memorials in Arizona.
Cindy McCain, clad in black with a simple string of pearls, approached the casket first, stopped and briefly touched it before gently kissing it and giving it a pat before walking away with a stoic expression that barely concealed her anguish.
Meghan, also dressed in black, was more visibly emotional, sobbing as she bent over and placed her hand on the coffin.
Scores of mourners gathered Wednesday at the Arizona state Capitol in Phoenix to pay their respects to McCain, who had represented the state since the 1980s.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and his wife bowed, and McCain’s former colleagues, Sen. Jeff Flake and ex-Sen. Jon Kyl, both touched the casket.
“He fought like hell for the causes he believed in,” Ducey said.
“But along the way, he did it with humor and humanity, and without compromising the principles he held so dear. Imagining an Arizona without John McCain is like picturing Arizona without the Grand Canyon.”
Members of the public began lining up hours in advance for the viewing.
Chasity Pullin, whose husband and father are both veterans, was among those in line.
She said she liked how McCain didn’t act as if he was above others, and praised all he did for veterans.
“It feels like you’re losing part of your family, as much as he did,” she said
Kassandra Morales, 44, stood with her sons, ages 8 and 2.
The single mom, a Democrat, brought a bouquet of flowers and said she had always looked up to Republican McCain.
“Yesterday, I asked my son who his hero was. He gave me a rapper’s name,” Morales said. “I brought my children here to show them what a real hero was.”
A motorcade with McCain’s casket arrived at the Capitol earlier in the day for, first, a private ceremony and then the public viewing on what would have been his 82nd birthday.
State troopers on motorcycles led the black hearse on the eight-mile route that took the procession on southbound lanes of a highway closed to other traffic.
Flag-bearing military honor guards were lined up outside the Capitol waiting to honor the senator, who died on Saturday after a yearlong battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer.
With Wires
