as an affliction. even utter destruction. but the souls of the just are at peace. the hope of the dead is filled with immortality, chastised, but god found the more the. -- were the. -- worthy. as a sacrificial offering, he took his sufferings to himself. the faithful will abide in him. the book of revelation is an echo of the old testament. as john roach, iraq -- as john wrote, i heard voice from heaven, a blessed are those who died in the lord. the spirit response, yes, they will rest from their labors because their works go with them. ted showed his love for god and for his neighbor. we have no hesitancy i entrusting him to almighty god. i would like to add one little notes. it might be called st of a spiritual lobbying. we know that the lord will have no hesitancy in welcoming ted as one of his own, but we do hope that the lord has a building big enough to accommodate all the good works that are going to go with him. the other point is, i am not sure how this fits, but if we can imagine that in heaven, they worked through committees -- [laughter] then all alaskans primarily would be asking that god put ted on the appropriations committee. [laughter] [applause] ted, on behalf of everyone here, i say simply that not only do we love you, but we sell beloved in new in your work and in your relationship with people. because of that, the lord will extend his as of welcome to you it will always be our prayer that we, in turn, will be able to go to the lord with the same confidence and a glove -- and love as we see today extended by the lord. >> the honorable lisa murkowski reading a legacy of dreams. >> alaska has lost a giant. we are gathering together across the state to remember and celebrate all that ted stevens was to so many of us. but we learned -- when we learned ofhe tragic accidental, all across the state, people gathered together to sre their stories of the life of ted stevens. to people in cordova gathered to get -- together in tir neighborhood, all came into one house, sharing coffee, a watching brief runs but c-span -- watching reruns of c-span when he delivered his last floor speech. we have seen the big banners that express the thanks to ted. i was flying down from fairbanks a few days ago and the flight attendant came over the intercom system and gave the most incredibly warm and beautiful impromptu tributes to said stevens -- to ted stevens to all of those who were assembled on that flight. just last evening, thousands of alaskans lined the streets in the rain and in the damp to stand with signs paying tribute to our senator. these alaskans were not just out to pay tribute or show respect for the office. alaskans across the state are out to express the honor for the man, the trip before the man, and truly the love for ted stevens. ted was alaska. he just was alaska. he will be remembered for all that he built in his state going as far back as statehood, ether it had to do with our fisheries, aviation safety, a telecommunications, rural health care, the military, all that he has done to build our state. they are legendary. his legacy, and his legacy rests not just with the infrastructure and the programs that he has created, but really that legacy rests with the lives that he touched. all those thousands and thousands of lives that he touched over the years. and we all have our ted stories. sometimes it was nothing more then, i shook his hand in the airport. he was famous for his handwritten notes expressing a condolence, congratulations. it was bill little things that ted had a passion -- it was the little things that ted had a passion for this land and this people that he represented. he treated them not as constituents. he treated them as neighbors. he treated them as friends. that was returned. he helped raise so many young alaskans. he would see the talent and a young person and he would help to grow that. he would encourage that. as so many who are gathered here you have been touched in one way, shape, form by the life of ted stevens, by the hand of ted stevens, that will continue. it that will continue for decades to come. it was through his example, through the life that he led to comment that he taught us about trust, loyalty. he taught us about tenacity and commitments. never, ever, ever giving up. he taught us about faith in god and faith in prayer and love for our country at all times. ted date so many -- ted gave so many the wings to fly. we see that in our state daily. just three weeks ago, we were gathered here in your church, and the question was asked, what are you looking forward to, ted? he said, spending that time with the grandkids. giving them those wings to fly. as important as ted stevens is to last history, h was all about alaskas future. the legacy of dreams and the hope and confidence that he left askans surrounds all of us. to the family, to catherine, to each of you, we thank you for sharing this extraordinary man with each of us. on behalf of alaska and everywhere, we thank you and we love you, uncle ted. i had been passed by the family to read a column entitled "to all legacy of the dreams." -- " a legacy of the dreams." i would leave a legacy of dreams to. the generation gap, igniting a fire in the youth and old alike. only the eternal flame spirit to light a path of change. i would leave a legacy of dreams that breed the best, a stalwart race of many free and fresh and kenya as the great north land, creating magic from the natural thing is at hand. i would leave a legacy of dreams, sculpture a realm of courtesy and respect, a joy in doing, a pride in workmanship were each might show an understanding compassion. i would leave a legacy of dreams that each might note his own, yet share and share in peace and amity shining the godless urged to do another anin. i would leave a legacy of dreams for all to reach beyond the bottom line of now, to wear green grasses grow says brightly for tomorrow. i would leave a legacy of dreams. >> would you sing with us, please? ♪ ["faith of our fathers"] >> thank you, and please be seated. our scripture reading today is 1psalm 1:21. he will not suffer thy foot to be moved. behold he that he did israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. the lord is thy keeper. the lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. the lord shall preserve thee from all evil. he shall preserve thy soul. the lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in for this time forth and even for ever more. the lord bless the reading of his word. at this time, we would like for our special gue speakers to be escorted to the platform. >> ladies and gentlemen, we are honored here in alaska today to have the vice-president of the united states present, joe biden. >> thank you for the welcome. i am the one who was honored. i am honored to be asked to say a few words. i must really pinch myself to fully understand that i am privileged to speak on the floor ofhe u.s. senate. coming from the boy i had, i could never have even dreamed of being here today. home is where the heart is, mr. president, that is so, i have two homes. one is right here in this chamber, the other one is in my beloved state of alaska. i must leave one to return to the other. nothing that i can think of describes your father better than that statement he made on the floor of the united states senate to. your dad used to kid me about the fact that " a lot of irish politics. they think i called them because i'm irish. i do that because they're the best poets. [laughter] your dad had a lot in common with what of the ish poet said i have quoted free longtime, james joyce. james joyce once said, when i die, dublin will be written in my heart. i have no doubt, not a single doubt in my mind, that alaska is written in ted's heart. --'s heart is big enough there also written across the big heart. it never had to wonder what was in his heart. it was obvious to everyone who knew him. it was obvious to me the day i met him as a 29-year-old kid was just elected to the united states senate. i have said it before to my colleagues in the senate. i see some many loyal friends to ted out there. a significant portion of the money that belongs in delaware and new york and grge--- and georgia resides right here in alaska. [laughter] [applause] i like to say that we did it willgly. [laughter] everyone of us to serve with ted -- and i served with ted for 37 years -- we all immediately knew what was in his heart. i have said it before and my colleagues hav hea me say this before. senator mansfield once told me, every man or woman that comes into the united states senate brings with them a piece of their state. everyone who goes there bring something of a piece of their state. ted stevens, unlike any other man or woman with whom i served, was his state. from the eerie silence of the tundra to the mountains piercing the sky to fierce independence combined with a strong sense of community all of you alaskans have, at these things more than describe alaska. they define a way of life. and no state has ever had been more fierce defender then -- of that state's way of life than ted stevens. he took such incredible pride in his family in this place. you and alaska took great pride in ted as well and with good reason. from the valerie demonstrated in world war -- valor demonstrated in world war ii do is for decades in service to the people of alaska, there was one thing you could be certain of -- you could always count on ted stevens. whatever ted stevens said, whatever ted stevens gave you his hand, whenever ted stevens made a commitment, you could absolutely bet your life on the fact that he would keep the commitment. everyone also knows that ted friendship and support was not bounded by ideology. it had no bounds. none whatsoever. when i came to the senate in 1973, i was 100 out of 100 in seniority. many of my colleagues, some of whom are here today, offered help to get me through a pretty tough time in my life. very few offered as warm of an embrace as the republican senator who i had never met in my lif he walked across the floor of the senate to my corner gas -- my corner desk and extended his hand and said, i want to get t know you. we want you to come to dinner. he was parked -- back in those days, we actually ng out with one another. we actually cared a t about one another. it did not have anything to do with democrat or republican. that was part of a close-knit senate family within the senate family. that family took me into their family. i was reminding ted's daughter thathen she was -- in 1973 at a dinner, because they use to once a month have dinner at one another's homes. they insisted that this 30 year- old lawyer -- well aware -- widower become part of that family. they were a life preserver during a difficult time. they were there for me in 1973. we were all there for ted in 1978 when he lost and. -- anne. we began to rebuild our lives with katherine and joe. -- jill. no man deserves one great love in his life, let alone two. he and i share that distinction. we celebrated each other's joyous occasions, including the birth of our daughters within weeks of one another. in the early days, we used to have birthdays together in the senate dining room. ted and died -- ted and i were bonded over shared similar tragedies and cebrated life's joys together. there are a lot of stories about his power as the united states senator. when one strand runs through every single solitary thing i observed ted do in the 37 years and that was his word was his bond. his personal generosity was surprising in how quickly it s offered. one of the things i love most about ted is the pride he took in his family the pple, the places, the things he loved the most. ted jr., i remember we were flying over the bering straits with your dad in a helicopter and he was pointing everything out. he pulled out a photograph that was five by seven. it was a picture of the guys standing on a deck of the boat that look like it was about to sink with a lster claw and it was full of ice and it looked like it was going to sink. he held out and said, that is my ted. that is what he does. i do not know how many times i called ken -- i called him. my daughter just got a master's degree from the university of pennsylvania and she graduated with a 3.93. i call ted and told him. i said, and nobody has ever done that well. he said, we have. [laughter] i know more about all six of you than you want me to know. you know, one of the measures i apply to true friendship is if your friend is willing to share with you the things that he or she values most. ted was a true friend. he shared with all of those who called him a friend all those things he valued. ted stevens probably d unapologetically did everything heould do to improve the lives of the citizens of his beloved alaska in return, he is going to live on in the state's history, not only as a man who literally helped create this state, but the man who also built it into the great state has the,. your state legislature was absolutely right in naming him the alaskan of the century. i know of no united states senator who was ever been given such an honor. i think no habitat beyond being a father and husband made more prop -- made tadmor proud. for its time back in the interior department when his office door said alaska headquarters to actually writing the alaska state act that president eisenhower signed in 1958, ted stevens was alaska. maybe that is why his closest friends in the senate is a man you are about to hear from. he is this -- he has a similar background. they both got their estates into the union. if ted had been japanese, they would have been brothers. war heroes, incredible similarities. incredible similarities. ladies and gentlemen, in the summer of 1899, edward henry harriman assembled a crew of 125 high-profile writers, artists, and scientist aboard a ship. their mission was to survey the alaskan coast. one of the men on board that ship was probably the second most important person in alaska history. he was one of the first to put the majesty of alaska into words and to place it in america's consciousness. i would like to share something that he wrote to and that i find especially fitting today. "a fewinutes ago, every tree was excited, about an to the roaring storm, tossing the branches and glorious enthusiasm like worship. the to the outer ear, that these trees are now silent, their songs will neverease. the glorious enthusiasm of ted stevens may have gone silent to our adherent -- our culture year, but for all of us, especially with this crowd of a beautiful state, his song will never cease. my prayer to you, catherine, and the entire stephens family, is that his memory will soon bring a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. i pray that number will come sooner than later. from experience, i guarantee you that it will come. the people of alaska, i can say with absolute certainty without fear of contradiction, we shall not look upon his like again. i was proud to be his friend. >> thank you, mr. vice president. ladies and gentlemen, the honorable mitch mcconnell, minority leader of the united states senate, from kentucky. thank you for coming today. >> catherine, then, susan, bath, -- beth, walter, ted, lily, members of this magnificent stephens family, the vice-president, reverend clergy, senate colleagues, distinguished guests and friends, last week, american said goodbye to one of its great men. ted stevens was respected and revered in washington and throughout the lower 48 for his service to this country and as many legislative achievements and his legendary and gritgrit. ted colleagues in the senate lost a dear friend and yes, even sometimes feared. it is obvious to everyone that the people of alaska lost something even more. one of the things you learn when you come here for the first time is that despite its size, alaska is a very small place. people know each other. everyone, everyone knew ted stevens. he is an omnipresent reality. from the airport here in anchorage to the remotest villages, attends contribution to alaska are as fast as the state itself. it is hard to imagine that any one man ever meant more than any one state then ted stevens. of course, it did not have to be that way. once he's been the a little time in washington, tune noticed that some senators with a double life. they can play one role in washington and another back in their home states. they can use their job in the senate as a platform to reach a national audience beyond their own constituents back home. and for four decades, ted stevens was a living, breathing antithesis to that approach. in his view, if it s not good for alaska, it was not good, period. [laughter] as a young man, netiquette balt it that 49 star on the flag. -- ted all tickets at 49th star on the plight. he helped to traform alaska into a modern state. he came toashington with a mission and he was faithful to that mission to the end. and every alaskan here and across the state should know that ted stevens devoted every day of his life, not to the promotion of himself, but t you. it took a lot of eort, but ted was clearly the right man for the job. former chiefs of staff remembers being taken a back on his first trip to alask with ted. when he showed up at ted's house to pick them up at 6:00 in the morning, he learned that had had arctic on to the briefing book he had been given the night before, read all the daily papers, and had already been on the phone to washington for a couple of hours. by the end of the trip, he said he needed a vacation for billing for two weeks what ted stevens had beedoing for 39 years. ted would say that he worked so hard because there was always so much work to do. alaskans did not have the benefit of centuries of infrastructure and development. and he did everything he could to make sure the rest of his colleagues knew about it, first hand. most lawmakers in washington, when you meet them for the first time, they might invite you to join tm for dinner somewhere around town. ted stevens invited you to alaska. he wanted us to appreciate the unique challenges that people who lived here face every day in and every day out. and i can assure you -- turning down an invitation to alaska from ted stevens was not recommended. [laughter] in fact, an entire generation of federal officials and lawmakers trekked up. ted stevens -- trekked up here to ted stevens' invitation. they were impressed by the magnificence of the scenery and just how much of alaska as progress is the direct result of this remarkable man. he poured himself into this place, treating it like e of his children. and to the people of alaska, i assure you, uncle ted. whatever it took to make sure that your concerns were known d that -- uncle ted did whatever it took to make sure that your concerns were known and met. it was a privilege discern -- to serve alongside him in the senate. we missed him for the past two years and we agreed with -- ive with the stevens family. his legacy will last as long as the flag is flown. >> thank you, nator mcconnell. ladies and gentlemen, i am happy to present to you the honorable daniel k. in a way -- inouye. he is the senator from hawaii. >> my dear friends, we arrived in anchorage last evening after a six-hour journey from allied -- all white. i must say that it was a sad journey. the plane was quiet. believe it or not, no one drank. there were no movies. just whispers. because we for all: to anchorage -- we were all going to anchorage to say goodbye to a friend. yes, this is a time of mor urning. we mourn for katherine who lost her husband, a great man, a great companion. we mourn for yo children who got all love you dearly, he stood up for you time and time again, bravely, to protect un defend you. yes, he was a big bother, a good father. father, a goodt father. he told me once, he was glad that i was a grandf