Ted Kennedy Memorial Service: Tom Menino

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MAYOR TOM MENINO (D), BOSTON: Thank you, Paul. Paul said he was going to ask me to sing. I got thrown into the choir when I was in the eighth grade and I haven't sang since. (INAUDIBLE).

Ted Kennedy was my friend. I feel tremendous sadness today, but also a sense of pride. The history books will show that Boston wasn't just the cradle of liberty, it birthed its champion, too. Senator Edward M. Kennedy was born here.

The man of the Senate came from the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester, where he now rests.

Angela and I, together with all Bostonians, are mourning a native son. Some of our neighbors have met Ted, both the immigrants from our ports, they're trained in our hospitals, they're educated in our schools. When they stepped foot onto the greenway, they knew his work. Our thoughts and prayers are with Vicki and the entire Kennedy family. Your imprint across the city is indelible. The new Edward Kennedy Institute is another lasting legacy of the Kennedys from Boston.

I hate to say it in these tough financial times, but we need to buy some more red paint to extend the Freedom Trail.

I had the privilege of serving in the office that Teddy's grandfather once held. I think Fritz would have had a good laugh at Teddy and me sitting together at Fenway Park. Teddy called me up one day and he said, let's go to the ball game next week. It was a very cold night we decided to go. And I said, Teddy, I'll get a seat upstairs in the luxury boxes. He insisted we stay out of the skybox so we could be with -- be with the people.

By about the fourth or fifth inning, Senator Kennedy finally leaned over to me and said, mayor, I love the people, but it's freezing my bottom off.

(LAUGHTER)

MENINO: He came -- which is (INAUDIBLE).

I'll always be thankful that he worked so hard to bring the Democratic National Convention to Boston. Yes, because it put our city on display to the world, but also because it gave Senator Kennedy and me reason to spend so much time together. We worked hard. We worked relentlessly. We had tremendous fun doing it. We played so much good cop/bad cop that I couldn't remember sometimes what role I was supposed to play. You know, Senator Kennedy would say to the person, John, umm, I'd like to see $1.5 million from you folks. And within a half an hour later, this person would call me up and say, does he really mean that?

I'd say, well, if you gave us $1 million, we'd be happy. And that happened so often, it raised the money for the Democratic National Convention.

I know that one of the great highlights of his career was addressing that convention. Today, Teddy called Boston a place where every street is history's home. That's true of the old North Church and Faneuil Hall. It's true now of all the places Senator Kennedy walked.

We have followed in his steps a path to equality and opportunity. Teddy was always out front on the issues. It's something I admired and tried to emulate. Sometimes it got us into trouble. Several years ago, at the beginning of the green revolution, we were supposed to go to a green event together. I had been driving around in a compact hybrid. I complained all the time it was tiny.

Well, our staffs thought -- staff always gets you in trouble -- our staff thought it would be good for Teddy and I to ride over to the event together in my hybrid. We're both small guys, by the way. Of course, it was really too small for me and certainly too small for the two of us. We were like two overgrown peas in -- in a pod. We sought alternate transportation, but we never stopped fighting for progress together.

On the occasion of Teddy's 70th birthday, I threw a party for him in Boston and made him an honorary harbor master. I mention it because thinking about him that day makes me smile. The senator took it a bit -- took a bit -- took it a bit too seriously, but set out to try to actually direct traffic on Boston Harbor. I mention it, also, because I think it was a role suited to him. The harbor master is a guardian. He watches over the tired and the weary and the worn out. That was Ted Kennedy.

When the phone rings, I miss Teddy's voice on the end of the line. When debates rage, I'm sad he won't echo in the well of the Senate. The sound -- but in the sounds of school kids accepting diplomas, immigrants taking the citizenship oaths, neighbors offering neighbors a helping hand we'll forever hear his call for justice. I'll always hear the familiar tunes of a loyal friend.

I also would like to say that (INAUDIBLE) academy in the City of Washington, one of our pilot schools. He was dedicated to health care. I sent a letter to the board of trustees the other day and we're going to name that school after Edward M. Kennedy, because all they are about...

(APPLAUSE)

MENINO: ...at school, all they...

(APPLAUSE)

MENINO: All they do is train kids to get into the health care field. And we know Teddy, how much he loved health care, how he believed in it and he led the -- he led the charge. And shortly, we will have reforms in health care because of Ted Kennedy. I want to make sure that school in Boston reminds everybody how hard Teddy fought for those things.

Vicki and family, thanks.

Thank you for what you are.

Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)