Sen. Robert Byrd, the longest-serving senator in history, often told his colleagues that he loved them but that he loved the Senate more. Fittingly, that’s where Washington will bid him farewell Thursday, when his body will lie in repose before returning home to West Virginia for a public funeral.
Byrd’s final appearance on the Senate floor will be as historic as the senator himself. A senator’s casket last lay in repose there in 1959, the year Byrd joined the chamber. He was the longest-serving member of Congress ever and was third in line to the presidency.
Byrd died early Monday at age 92 after being hospitalized for dehydration, his office said. Few outside his family had known of his condition.
Byrd’s casket will be placed on the same catafalque built to support President Abraham Lincoln’s coffin and which has been used for those of Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan and others. Later, Byrd’s body will be transported to Charleston, W.Va., to lie in repose in the state Capitol’s rotunda.
The White House said President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will attend Byrd’s memorial service Friday.
