Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

Journal photo / Mary Murphy
Nuala Pell greets well-wishers at the reception following the funeral of her husband, former U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell. Behind her is Sister M. Therese Antone, the president of Salve Regina University, where the reception was held at the Pell Center. At right is Kathleen Connell, former Rhode Island secretary of state.

NEWPORT-- About 300 people have gathered at Salve Regina University's Pell Center for International Relations & Public Policy to pay their respects to the family of Rhode Island's late U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell.

A group of people surrounded his widow, Nuala O'Donnell Pell, as she entered the center room after services for the senator this morning at Trinity Church.

Around her, waiters served coffee and hors d'oeuvres, including prosciutto and melon and finger sandwiches of lobster and chicken salad, tomato and mozzarella, and beef tenderloin.

The stately building is alive with voices, as family and friends gathered in a salon featured carved ceilings and a crystal chandelier. Some are looking down at the scene from a second level reached by a grand staircase.

In one room, a revolving video presentation played for the hundreds of mourners, opening with a "Happy 90th Birthday Sen. Pell" image -- Pell had turned 90 in November -- and then recounting his life through family photographs and newspaper clippings.

One of those clippings seemed to perfectly capture the man whose friends and relatives recollected on their eulogies: "Pell: A Gentleman and a Statesman."

Photos showed the senator talking to the late President Lyndon B. Johnson and former President Jimmy Carter, meeting with the Pope, and South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela, among others.

Extra: Take a look at the Pells' life together in a special multimedia report by projo.com in 2005, including personal photos and clippings from family albums.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Tom Mooney and Kate Bramson

 Tags  Claiborne Pell Newport R.I.

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