Former prime minister Jean Chretien brought humour to his eulogy at Eugene Whelan’s funeral Saturday and attendees erupted with laughter as he recalled good times with his good friend.
Chretien said he and Whelan had a lot in common – they both had eight siblings and both grew up in small towns – and he joked that both had a tendency to speak a broken form of English that people found hard to understand.
“He was one of the best known political figures of our generation,” Chretien said on a more serious note.
He spoke about Whelan’s famous friendship with Mikhail Gorbachev who, before becoming leader of the U.S.S.R., was given a tour of Canada by Whelan.
“Imagine the work of the translator,” Chretien said with a laugh.
“He was honest, sincere, outspoken…and he was very persistent,” Chretien said, adding he was sometimes so outspoken “it was not easy to shut him up.”
Following the funeral, Chretien explained that bringing humour into his eulogy only made sense since Whelan was known for being blunt and having a big personality.
“For me, with a guy like Geno, you know, we had important jobs but we did not take ourselves too seriously,” said Chretien.
Whelan was known for sporting his trademark green Stetson, so it was fitting that it rest atop his casket at the funeral.
At the beginning of the service, a military and RCMP officer placed the green Stetson on a table beside Whelan’s casket. Then the officers folded a Canadian flag that had been draped on top of Whelan’s casket and passed it to his wife, Liz.
To the right of the casket, Liz sat surrounded by her daughters, Terry, Cathy and Susan, and the rest of their family. To the left, the pews were packed with politicians, with Chretien and the Rt. Hon. Herb Gray sitting in the front directly across from Whelan’s wife.
The list of public figures who attended the funeral was endless, but Remo Mancini, a former provincial Liberal cabinet minister, said in his eulogy that he learned from Whelan to see everyone as an equal.
He said that the most important thing Whelan taught him was, “politics is people,” and that when walking into a room, to remember “everyone is a dignitary.”
It was standing room only at St. John the Baptist Church in Amherstburg where the funeral was held and ushers lined the back of the church, either standing or sitting on chairs brought in to accommodate the crowd.
Dozens of flower arrangements lined the altar, with several green arrangements matching the colour of Whelan’s staple Stetson.
Along with Chretien and Mancini, six other people gave a eulogy during the funeral, including Whelan’s three daughters.
More to come.
A green Stetson sits on the flag-draped coffin of the late Honourable Eugene Whelan as two officers with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stand guard at St. John the Baptist Church in Amherstburg on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
People crowd into St. John the Baptist Church for the funeral of the late Hon. Eugene Whelan in Amherstburg on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
People line up for communion at the funeral for the late Hon. Eugene Whelan at St. John the Baptist Church in Amherstburg, on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien embraces Liz Whelan, the widow of the late Hon. Eugene Whelan, outside St. John the Baptist Church in Amherstburg on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
Liz Whelan, the widow of the late Hon. Eugene Whelan, leaves St. John the Baptist Church after her husband’s funeral in Amherstburg on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien mingles after the funeral of the late Honourable Eugene Whelan outside St. John the Baptist Church in Amherstburg, Ont., Saturday, February 23, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
Friends and family pack into St. John the Baptist Church in Amherstburg for the funeral of the late Honourable Eugene Whelan, Saturday, February 23, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
Pallbearers carry the coffin holding the late Honourable Eugene Whelan to a hurse outside St. John the Baptist Church in Amherstburg, Ont., Saturday, February 23, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
Members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police carry out the green Stetson that belonged to the late Honourable Eugene Whelan while at his funeral at St. John the Baptist Church in Amherstburg, Ont., Saturday, February 23, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
A member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police holds the green Stetson that belonged to the late Honourable Eugene Whelan while at his funeral at St. John the Baptist Church in Amherstburg, Ont., Saturday, February 23, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
