Cape Cod Pays Respects To One Of Its Own

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Senator Edward Kennedy died last night in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. The town, on Cape Cod, has been home to the Kennedy family since the 1920s. On what turned out to be a beautiful late-summer day, locals came together today to remember the man they knew as a neighbor.

From member station WCAI, here's reporter Sean Corcoran.

SEAN CORCORAN: When Hyannis Port residents Billy Stewart(ph) and Nina Tepper(ph) heard that Senator Edward Kennedy had died, they didn't go to the Kennedy family compound, where the national media was setting up camp. Instead, they went a few miles down the road to the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum, where they stood in line to sign a condolence book as a television played old news broadcasts from the family's history.

Outside the museum, after writing their personal notes, Tepper said the couple is grateful there's a place they can come to talk about the senator and express their sorrow.

Ms. NINA TEPPER: He and the family have made such a difference in being a champion for everyday people. They - their struggles were the struggles of working people, the struggles of families. So I'm here to show that appreciation, and to mark my hope that that legacy will continue.

CORCORAN: When Stewart was a boy, he says he used to be a golf caddy for different Kennedys, and he grew up admiring the senator.

Mr. BILLY STEWART: He was a man of courage, and he was a man of weaknesses, too, like we all are. But for the most part, when I look at the whole picture of Ted Kennedy, he's done a great, great work for people who are humanists and care. And even those who opposed him, he still moved forward. And for that, I respect him deeply.

CORCORAN: Standing not far from where someone had placed an aging, blue Kennedy campaign sign with the writing: God bless Ted Kennedy, the last or first, Stewart expressed what many Cape Codders are saying, that the Kennedys are a family people care about, and the senator was just Ted or Teddy.

Mr. STEWART: They're like neighbors more than they were icons. But they were also very civic-minded and gave a lot back to the country. And for that, I respect them deeply.

CORCORAN: Beneath a flag at half-mast, Robert Kennedy, the chairman of the history department at Suffolk University in Boston, said people on Cape Cod and the islands have a special relationship with the Kennedy family, one that Senator Kennedy's approachable and affable nature helped foster.

Mr. ROBERT KENNEDY (Chairman, History Department, Suffolk University): He did do the things that endear you to other Cape Codders. That is, he learned to sail. He was a neighbor. He wasn't someone who put on airs, but he was a down-to-earth guy. You would see him and his family at Mass, you would see them in the grocery store, you would see them around town, not putting on airs, not being pretentious, but simply being part of this community, which is something Cape Codders value.

CORCORAN: Just as they did when Rose Kennedy died and when JFK Jr. was killed in an airplane crash, museum officials expect a steady stream of locals to visit this week, where they'll write in the condolence books and recall their own stories about the neighbor who recently passed away.

For NPR News, I'm Sean Corcoran on Cape Cod.

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