Elizabeth Edwards’s funeral was held today near her home in Raleigh, North Carolina. Open to the public, the funeral drew a crowd of over 1,000 people, including Senator John Kerry and former senator John Edwards, Elizabeth’s estranged husband. Outside the funeral before it began, “[John] held hands with their youngest two children,” the Times reports. “He leaned down and whispered to their daughter, Emma Claire. ‘You O.K.?’ he asked. The 12-year-old nodded, and the family filed inside.” In a eulogy, Elizabeth’s newly engaged daughter Catharine said: “One thing that is true and will never change is that we are a family. She would do anything in the world to protect us.”
As for the Westboro Baptist Church’s planned protests? The church members were kept two blocks from the entrance to the funeral, and, in the face of this death, even their craziness fizzled: “In the end, only five Westboro congregants showed for the protest, which took place in a cold, steady rain,” CNN reports. Meanwhile, 200 to 300 people showed up for a counter-protest, with signs reading “love” and “hero.”
More than 1,200 at Edwards funeral [CNN]
Elizabeth Edwards Eulogized as Defender of Her Family [NYT]
