UPDATE: Obama to deliver eulogy for Beau Biden
From serving in Iraq with the Delaware National Guard to prosecuting Dr. Earl Bradley, Beau Biden was a man of principle.
“Beau was a really, really good person,” said Speaker of the House Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf. “He grew up in the limelight, but he constantly went out of his way to prove he was his own person.”
The Office of Vice President Joe Biden has released the following details about services for the vice president's son, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden. All of these services are open to the public, officials said. Further details will be posted as they become available.
On Thursday, June 4, Beau will lie in honor at Legislative Hall in Dover from 1 to 5 p.m.
On Friday, June 5, a viewing will take place at St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church in Wilmington from 1 to 4 p.m.and from 6 to 9 p.m.
On Saturday, June 6, at 10:30 a.m., there will be a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church in Wilmington, where President Barack Obama will deliver a eulogy.
On behalf of the Biden family, Hallie Biden, wife of Beau Biden, has requested that in lieu of flowers, those wishing to make a contribution in memory of Beau Biden do so to the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children at: www.beaubidenfoundation.org.
Schwartzkopf said when he woke up June 1 he felt he was coming to terms with the thought of Biden’s death.
Then, he said, he got a phone call with a blocked number and all the painful feelings came rushing back.
Holding back his emotions, Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, explained that Biden’s number was one of only four that came up blocked. He said when the number showed up, he found himself asking which one of those four it could be.
“Then, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s only three,’” he said.
Biden died May 30 at the age of 46 after battling brain cancer. Biden had been admitted to Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., 10 days earlier.
Biden is the son of Vice President Joe Biden. He served in the Delaware National Guard, joining in 2003, and was deployed in 2008 for a year long active-duty tour in Iraq. He was first elected as Delaware attorney general in 2006 and was re-elected in 2010.
Biden’s health had been an issue since he suffered a mild stroke in 2010. In May 2013, Biden was admitted to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where a lesion removed from his brain. Despite fulfilling his duties as attorney general through the 2014 election, Biden’s public presence diminished greatly. He was last seen publicly in Sussex County during the Return Day celebration in Georgetown following the election.
Schwartzkopf said the best way to describe Biden was to tell a story about the months leading up to his attorney general re-election campaign in 2010. It was the height of the Dr. Earl Bradley child molestation scandal that rocked the Cape Region.
Schwartzkopf said after a three-hour-long lunch in which the two men discussed a number of issues, Schwartzkopf finally asked what the meeting was really about. He said Biden was looking for a friend’s confirmation about running for re-election as attorney general, and not running for the Senate seat that was vacated after his father assumed the vice presidency in 2008.
“He knew what he wanted to do,” said Schwartzkopf. “I told him that he couldn’t leave those kids. I told him to not rack his brain. I also told him I fully expected him to run for governor in 2016. He would have won. He would have been a great governor.”
Sen. Ernie Lopez, R-Lewes, from the perspective of a fellow policy maker, said it was hard to see a person die at such a young age who still had much work to do.
He was a champion for the welfare of children, said Lopez.
“It’s a big loss for all of us,” he said.
Lopez said moments of tragedy like this allow for reflection and show that political ideals aren’t what define us. The commonalities among all of us far outweigh what a person’s political beliefs are, he said.
“This is a time to sit back and focus on things together,” Lopez said. “I know it’s what Beau would want us to do.”
The General Assembly will resume its session Tuesday, June 2 after a two-week break so the Joint Finance Committee could crunch numbers and work on the state’s budget.
Schwartzkopf said he planned a moment of silence in Beau Biden’s honor to begin the House session.
