TIM HUBER
Associated Press Writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – President Barack Obama and thousands of ordinary West Virginians honored the late Robert C. Byrd at a memorial service in the late senator’s home state Friday.
With the president, Vice President Joe Biden and other dignitaries on hand, pallbearers carried the late senator’s casket down the red-carpeted steps of the Capitol to its main courtyard for the service honoring Byrd, who died Monday at the age of 92.
“I’ll remember him as he was when I came to know him,” Obama told the gathering, “his white hair flowing like a mane, his gait steady with a cane, determined to make the most of every last breath. The distinguished gentleman from West Virginia could be found at his desk to the very end and doing the people’s business.”