Oklahomans Look Back at the Life and Influence of Sen. Ted Kennedy

As many in the nation mourn the death of Senator Ted Kennedy, many Oklahomans are looking back on the difference he made including here in the state.

Wednesday, August 26th 2009, 9:51 pm

By: News 9


By Jacqueline Sit, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- As many in the nation mourn the death of Senator Ted Kennedy, many Oklahomans are looking back on the difference he made including here in the state.

Senator Kennedy spearheaded many important laws including the one creating Meals on Wheels. A local area Aging Agency director said he's in awe by Sen. Kennedy's commitment to help the little guy.

Senator Edward Ted Kennedy has been described as a lion in the Senate and was the last surviving son in a legendary political family who had a powerful influence on legislators of both parties and those around him.

Former Oklahoma Transportation Commissioner Marion Diel worked in the Oklahoma legislature for two terms and remembered meeting the senator.

"He was the mainstay of the Democratic party," Diel said. "He was for the individual that had no rights, you might say, or at least their rights were not considered. And he was always interested in that particular need. He always swung hard when he come out."

Joe Myers followed the Kennedy family and said the popular figure had a great deal of persistence.

"But he approached it in a way that was not acrimonious or bitter, and he never held it against, seem to in public anyway, never held it against anyone. He was friends of all persuasions," Myers said.

For over 15 years, University of Oklahoma President David Boren was a Democratic Senate colleague of Kennedy. Boren said Kennedy was always courteous, maintained a sense of humor about their differences of opinion and was unfailingly kind to young people. When children from Oklahoma with terminal illnesses came to Washington, he visited with them and showed them souvenirs from his brother, President Kennedy.

Representative Richard Morrissette said he met Kennedy when he was working at the U.S. Capitol.

"Leaders such as the Kennedys really gave average Americans the hope that there were better days ahead, and he never lost it, he never lost it," Morrissette said. "Senator Kennedy never lost his compassion for those he believed in, the poor, the sick the handicapped. He never lost that."

The Oklahoma Democratic party is also mourning the loss of Sen. Kennedy calling him a champion for those less fortunate in our society.

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