Edwards rite touches on love, courage, wit

RALEIGH, N.C. – Elizabeth Edwards was loved, lauded and then laid to rest Saturday in a grave next to the son she lost nearly 15 years ago, a searing family tragedy that compelled her husband to seek public office.

In the intervening years, her poise through the public disintegration of her marriage to John Edwards and her grace during a six-year battle with breast cancer endeared her to millions of people she never met.

Some who knew her best and who eulogized her Saturday said the private Elizabeth Edwards, who was 61, was the same whip smart, witty and intensely competitive woman that the rest of America thought they knew, only more so.

“Above all, Elizabeth was authentic,” said Hargrave McElroy, a confidant of nearly three decades. “She was real. No pretense. No holding back.”

Edwards, 61, died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. Her husband was the Democrats’ 2004 vice presidential candidate and made a failed bid for the presidency in 2008. The couple separated after John Edwards fathered a child with his mistress.

The couple had four children together, including 28-year-old Cate, 12-year-old Emma Claire and 10-year-old Jack.

Saturday’s service was held at Edenton Street Methodist Church, the same downtown Raleigh, N.C., sanctuary where the 1996 memorial for her 16-year-old son Wade, who died in an automobile accident, was held. A Christmas tree covered with lights and ornaments stood tall to the left of her casket; an illuminated Moravian star dangled from the rafters high above. The altar was covered with white potted poinsettias.

“When I talked to my mom about what she wanted for this service, the first thing she said was that she wanted to be here at Edenton Street, because it was so connected to us and so connected to him,” said Edwards’ daughter Cate, speaking for her family from the pulpit.

“The biggest difference between being here now and being here back then is, of course, that we don’t have my mom to help us get through this. She was always a source of strength, a source of wisdom, a source of grace. She could bring out the brave in anyone. She brought it out in all of us.”

In the front pew sat Cate’s father and her two younger siblings. The two-time presidential candidate was silent, tenderly holding the hands of his grieving children. Across the aisle was Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, with whom John Edwards campaigned in 2004 as his vice presidential running mate; North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue; and members of the state’s congressional delegation and other dignitaries.

Longtime friend Glenn Bergenfield brought laughter from the mourners with stories of his friendship with “sweet, sweet Elizabeth,” which began in law school in 1974 and has “sustained me in times both good and wretched.”

Down the street, members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., known for picketing outside military funerals, brought a small group to picket near Edwards’ service. The church members have picketed at the funerals of Coretta Scott King and Jerry Falwell, among many others. A much larger local group, “Line of Love,” organized a counterprotest in support of “promoting proper respect for funerals.”

The crowd supporting Edwards sang Christmas carols, the national anthem and “Lean on Me,” the Bill Withers classic. Other supporters circled the block in cars, playing country music as the crowd cheered.