Farewell to Sargent Shriver

Pat Wand (Colombia VIII, 1963-65)

The wake for Sargent Shriver was held at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown. I got there at four, paid my respects to the family, and heard that “the words” would happen two and a half hours later. So I came home to get a notebook and water and returned to the church.

By 6:30 the church was full and overflowing. Singing “Amazing Grace” set the perfect tone. The cast of speakers was right out of Washington in the 1960s: Senator Steny Hoyer (D-MD), C. Payne Lucas (Founder, Crossroads Africa and civil rights leader), Maureen Orth (Vanity Fair writer and Peace Corps Volunteer, Colombia 1964–66), Bill Moyers (TV journalist and author), Senator Chris Dodd (Peace Corps, Dominican Republic 1966–68), Coleman McCarthy (writer and teacher), and Senator George McGovern (who ran with Shriver as his VP candidate in the 1972 presidential election).

The words were very touching as well as inspiring. Sarge inspired all of us to “serve, serve, serve,” and he practiced what he preached. He was a terrific human being, a leader in many enduring programs like Peace Corps, Head Start, War on Poverty, and the Special Olympics. He was a devout Catholic who lived his faith. He considered Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and Daniel Berrigan as the greatest Catholics because they were pacifists who inspired others through their work and writings.

His casket was a plain pine box and his four sons, one daughter, and son-in-law carried him out into the freezing cold night as the family sang “America the Beautiful.” Not a dry eye in the place.

When I was training for Peace Corps in the summer of 1963, Shriver visited our training site in New Mexico and talked with us. Through the years I met him again on several occasions and he always made me feel special. He had an ability to make everyone feel special.

This morning I attended the funeral Mass for Shriver at Our Lady of Mercy in Potomac. Former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden spoke, but the most moving statements came from Shriver’s children, who related the deeply human side of their parents, foibles and all. After the lengthy service, we moved to the Congressional Country Club for lunch—hundreds, perhaps a thousand of us.

Occasions like this make me pleased to be back in D.C. and able to participate in a moment in history. I thought of my fellow Colombia volunteers and knew that you, too, would like to have been there.