Farewell Camelot: Mourning Masses Honor Kennedy

Tens of thousands line up to begin paying respects during 2-day wake

Updated 6:45 AM EDT, Fri, Aug 28, 2009

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Mourners file past Kennedy's flag-draped coffin.

Ted Kennedy’s body journeyed 70 miles from his Cape Cod home to Boston, where it will lie in repose for the second of two days at the presidential library the late Senator helped develop for his slain brother, JFK.

Along the way the motorcade stopped at sites significant to Kennedy yesterday, including the church where his mother was baptized and the office where Kennedy first toiled as an assistant district attorney.

Plans are being finalized for a private memorial service at the presidential library this evening and for the funeral Mass on Saturday morning at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica — commonly known as the Mission Church — in Boston's Mission Hill neighborhood. President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak at the funeral.

All of the living former presidents are expected to attend the funeral.

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Kennedy's body was taken to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, where more than 20,000 lined up to pay their respects while walking past his closed, flag-draped casket Thursday as family and friends stood vigil.

Kennedy, the younger brother of former President John F. Kennedy and former Attorney General Robert Kennedy, died late Tuesday at age 77 after a long battle with a brain tumor. He will join five Kennedy family members now buried in the storied Arlington National Cemetary.

A private in the U.S. Army from 1951-53, Ted Kennedy went on to serve 46 years in the Senate representing Massachusetts. On Wednesday, President Obama called him "the greatest United States Senator of our time."