Remembrance, Reflection and Renewal
Dear Friend,
This week, while the House of Representatives is not in session, I attended three memorial services for important people in my life and in the life of our country.
Remembrance, Reflection and Renewal
Attending Memorial Services for Ethel Kennedy, Bill Lucy and J.D. Souther
Ethel Kennedy
On Wednesday, I attended the Memorial Service for Ethel Kennedy, the matriarch of the Kennedy family and widow of slain Presidential candidate, U.S. Attorney General and New York Senator Robert Kennedy. Mrs. Kennedy passed on October 17 at the age of 96. Presidents Biden, Obama and Clinton, along with Speaker Emerita Pelosi, spoke reverently about a woman who honored her husband’s legacy while forging her own and about how she helped shape their careers and perspectives on life. President Biden recalled how Mrs. Kennedy encouraged him to remain in the Senate when his wife and daughter were killed in a car wreck in 1972 and how she supported him again when his son Beau passed away in 2015. “Ethel helped my family find a way forward,” he said. President Obama shared a memory from his first meeting with Mrs. Kennedy as a U.S. Senate candidate in 2004, when she clasped both his hands and told him, “You know you’re going places. Just make sure you enjoy the ride.” President Clinton referred to Mrs. Kennedy as “the cat’s meow,” while Speaker Pelosi eulogized her from both a public standpoint and as a personal friend, noting they met for the first time during John F. Kennedy’s 1960 campaign for president. Martin Luther King III, whose father was assassinated in Memphis just weeks before Robert Kennedy was killed in 1968, remembered the “bridges” his mother, Coretta, built over the years with Mrs. Kennedy. The service, held at the Cathedral of St. Matthew, where John F. Kennedy’s state funeral took place in 1963, featured musical performances by Kenny Chesney, Sting and Stevie Wonder, who sang his signature “Isn’t She Lovely?” with a harmonica flourish.
After the service, President Clinton offered me a ride back to the Rayburn Building in his SUV, and we had an opportunity to reminisce about old mutual friends such as Mort Engelberg and Cybill Shepherd and talk about Hot Springs, Arkansas, Memphis politics, Bishop G.E. Patterson, and COGIC.
William “Bill” Lucy
Earlier Wednesday, I attended the funeral for William “Bill” Lucy, a giant of the labor movement and a Memphis native who helped guide the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike to its ultimate success despite the assassination of Dr. King. I joined Members of Congress Bennie Thompson and Maxine Waters, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) President Lee Saunders, United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts, and AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, among many others, to remember Bill Lucy as the genesis of the “I AM A MAN” posters that galvanized international support for the Memphis strikers, and as a coalition builder, including his work to end apartheid in South Africa and free Nelson Mandela. As AFSCME's elected international secretary-treasurer since 1972, and as founder of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Mr. Lucy became a living legend. The South African government sent a representative to Wednesday’s service to express its appreciation for his efforts. The service took place at the historic Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in downtown Washington where the funerals of Frederick Douglass and labor leader A. Phillip Randolph were also held. Mr. Lucy was truly one of the greatest sons of Memphis, having an impact on his hometown, but also nationally and internationally.
J.D. Souther
On Sunday, I drove to Thompson’s Station, Tennessee, to attend the memorial service for my old friend, the singer and songwriter John David Souther. It was held at the home of Rodney Crowell. Jackson Browne flew in for the occasion and sang, while singer-songwriter Paul Williams, saxophonist Jeffrey Coffin, Emmylou Harris and Nashville icons Jeff Hanna and Matraca Berg were also in attendance. Many studio musicians were there to pay their respects. We all shared memories of John David’s intelligence, his deep awareness of current events and politics, and his extraordinary talent as a songwriter. John David was a good friend, and he will be missed.
Quote of the Week
“To achieve something, you will have to show courage. You are only on this earth once. You must give it all you’ve got. So have your wits about you and do what you can and dig in because it may not last.” – Ethel Kennedy.
As always, I remain.
Most sincerely,
Steve Cohen
Member of Congress