Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 9, 1994 TAG: 9401090044
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HOT SPRINGS, ARK. LENGTH: Medium
Thousands of mourners, from neighbors and friends to top administration officials and entertainer Barbra Streisand, paid their respects to Virginia Kelley. Clinton's 70-year-old mother died in her sleep Thursday after a battle with breast cancer.
The service was held just hours before Clinton was to leave on a scheduled nine-day European trip.
At the end of the day, Clinton held back tears as he said goodbye to his stepfather, Richard Kelley, and his half-brother, Roger, who held a single yellow rose and wept openly.
All Hot Springs residents were invited to what the Rev. John P. Miles, the Clinton family pastor, called a "celebration of Virginia's life."
Clinton, his wife, Hillary, and their daughter, Chelsea, sat somberly in the front row as soloists sang hymns. Clinton did not speak.
Miles, pastor of St. James Methodist Church of Little Rock, called Virginia Kelley "an American original" during a lighthearted eulogy.
Miles recalled how Kelley said she once told her husband, "There's no telling what I could have accomplished in life if I had just been born with eyebrows."
Kelley stood out with her arched, pencilled-in eyebrows.
"She was filled with the essence of life. She was a celebration on the way to heaven," he said. "She loved her sons unconditionally. And she needed to at times. Both of them."
Miles also praised Kelley for bravely facing her illness and other adversities throughout her life.
"She faced one tragedy after another. But she was like a rubber ball. The harder life put her down, the higher she bounced," he said.
After the hourlong service, Clinton left the auditorium with his half-brother and stepfather. The president and his family joined a 28-car funeral procession for the 90-mile drive to his birthplace in Hope, Ark., for burial.
By the time the procession reached Rose Hill Cemetery, it had grown to a mile in length. After a brief service with family and close friends, Kelley was buried, among the graves of other family members. Clinton's father, William Jefferson Blythe, is also buried in the cemetery.
It was the third time in a year that death brought the first family back to Arkansas. Hugh Rodham, Hillary Rodham Clinton's father, died in April. White House lawyer Vince Foster committed suicide in July.
Signs of condolences hung at many local establishments. "God Bless You, Virginia," read the marquee of a music club. A sign outside a fast-food outlet said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Pres Bill."
by CNB