Hundreds attend wake of Kevin White; former Boston mayor led through times of turbulence and change

By Andrew Ryan, Peter Schworm and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Their memories of a political giant undimmed by the passage of time, hundreds of people are flocking to the wake today of former mayor Kevin H. White, who led the city of Boston from 1968 to 1984, years of turbulence and transformation.

People lined up along Beacon Street all the way to the State House to attend the wake. (Bill Greene/Globe Staff)

A who’s who of city politics past and present could be seen arriving at the wake, which began at 2 p.m. and is slated to last until 8 p.m. at the Parkman House, the Beacon Hill mansion owned by the city. The funeral is slated for Wednesday at St. Cecilia Church on Belvidere Street.

Those paying their respects to the family of the man once described in campaign ads as the “loner in love with the city” included Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino; former Mayor Ray Flynn; City Council President Stephen J. Murphy and other councilors; former state treasurer Robert Crane; and US Representative Stephen Lynch.

“He brought Boston from a backwater to the city that it is today. He really set the blueprint for the city that we’ve all followed. He had a vision for what downtown should be,” Menino said as he arrived.

Flynn, who won election after White decided not to seek a fifth term, said White was a central figure in the city’s history.

Flynn recalled as a boy going to the funeral of James Michael Curley and said, “All these people are part of Boston’s political history, the great political legacy of this city.”

Leslie King, who worked in White’s office of cultural affairs in 1976 during bicentennial celebrations that included a much-heralded visit from Queen Elizabeth II, said, “He was a great and gracious man. He really brought Boston to another level. It was a great time in Boston.”

Inside the building, White’s casket was placed on the second floor, surrounded by lilies, roses, and carnations, said George Regan, a former White aide who has been serving as family spokesman. Honor guards from the police and fire departments stood by.

Before the wake began, family and close friends participated in a prayer service, led by the Reverend John J. Unni, pastor of St. Cecilia.

Outside, under cloudless skies, the mournful wail of a police bagpiper sounded in the background, while the media, with their cameras and notebooks, looked on.

The line of people waiting to get in included more than 100 people before the doors to the residence were opened, swelled to 200 people at one point, stretching up the hill to the Statehouse, and still included about 135 shortly after 4 p.m.

“If Kevin White knew this many people still liked him, he’d have taken out nomination papers,” Regan said.

White died Friday at his Beacon Hill home at 82. He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2003.

White is credited with redrawing the city’s skyline -- dozens of office buildings and hotels were built or renovated during his tenure. His triumphs included remaking the deteriorating Quincy Market into the bustling shopping and eating district now known as Faneuil Hall Marketplace; the building of the Copley Place complex; and the reclamation of the Charlestown Navy Yard and the waterfront from the North End to Rowes Wharf.

Before serving as mayor, he had been elected as secretary of state. He ran unsuccessfully for governor and, at one point, was even for a matter of about two hours, picked as a vice presidential candidate to run with George McGovern.

He grappled with racial tension and violence as court-ordered school desegregation in the mid-1970s tore the city apart. In the end, one former aide said, he satisfied neither black nor white residents. The crisis marked the beginning of the end of his ambition for higher office, the Globe reported Saturday.

White was also known for the young, idealistic people who worked for him who later became prominent in politics, government, and business. His later years in office were marred by chronic fiscal problems, machine politics, and a federal corruption investigation that snared some city employees and businessmen. He was never charged but the probe was a factor in his decision not to seek a fifth term.

After leaving office, White kept a low profile. He taught at Boston University, retiring around the time he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

Catherine Sexton, 80, of East Boston, was not one of the political elite, but she was in line this afternoon just the same. Some 30 years ago, she said, in the 1970s, workers from the city showed up at her house and put a curb cut in front of it, a boon to her teenaged son who used a motorized wheelchair.

“They just rang our doorbell and told us that they saw we had a need. They came without being asked; it’s something I’ll never forget,” she said.

She said she had taken the Blue Line to the wake today, but “I would have walked here if I had to.”

Brian Mooney of the Globe staff contributed to this report.