Ted Kennedy Was Surrounded by Crying, Praying Family

[undeterred]

Members of the Kennedy clan were summoned to the family's compound in Hyannis Port Tuesday night to say tearful farewells to the man remembered today as an icon of American politics but known to them as Uncle Teddy.

In keeping with a family tradition, they gathered around the bed of Sen. Ted Kennedy to pray. The Rev. Patrick Tarrant, who was present with the family during those final hours, said he was impressed by Kennedy's spirituality and faith in his last moments.

The priest said family members were crying and that in his final moments Kennedy was "a man of quiet prayer." "The truth is, he had expressed to his family that he did want to go," Tarrant told WCVB, ABC News' Boston affiliate. "He did want to go to heaven. He did want to die... He was ready to go.

"There was a certain amount peace -- a lot of peace, actually -- in the family get-together last night. I couldn't help but think that the world doesn't know that part of the senator at all," Tarrant said. He said Kennedy's wife Vicki, his children and other family members were there.

"They were there and they were very prayerful and reverent and of course, crying," Tarrant said. "Of course they were aware that the very sick, the sense of hearing is the last thing to go. So, whatever is said around the sick bed is always heard by the patient ... and they were very well aware of it. They let him know how much he was loved and cared for and missed. It was quite an experience, for me."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TedKennedy/story?id=8416284&nwltr=politics_qlinks_pos1

I am so glad somebody covered this part of the story. What a wonderful family they are.

[demosincebirth]

1. He was a fighter, his whole life, for the workingman and the poor. Truly a

class act while he lived. May his soul rest in peace. Amen.

[hedgehog]

2. It used to be a custom to pray to St. Joseph for the grace of a happy death.

Now may be a good time to bring that custom back.

[undeterred]

3. Not a happy death

but it comparison to his brothers - he accomplished much, had a long life, and he had the chance to say goodbye to his loved ones.

[hedgehog]

4. He had time to prepare, time to say goodbye, a certain amount of

confidence that the Health care package he'd worked for all his life was on the way. He was with his family doing what he loved up until a day or so ago. He died in his own bed. It can't get much better than that this side of Paradise.

[47of74]

5. Agreed

My great uncle died very suddenly at home, without a chance to say goodbye to his friends and family. His dad - my great-grandpa - also died very suddenly up in Minnesota after getting sick while on vacation. So he and my family were denied a chance to say goodbye to each other. My other great uncle disappeared in Korea and by now is probably long gone, but didn't get the chance to say goodbye to his family either. And that's worse, not knowing what happened.

So Teddy and his family were incredibly blessed in that they got to spend his final hours of this life together, and that he and his family got to say goodbye to each other.