Prominent Chicagoans and family members paid tribute to former Mayor Jane Byrne at her funeral Monday morning, remembering her as a feisty woman who blazed a trail — with panache.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel spoke at the funeral Mass, which was celebrated by Monsignor Kenneth Velo. Byrne’s nieces and nephews acted as pallbearers and readers.
Emanuel noted the challenges during Byrne’s time as mayor from 1979 to 1983.
“She led Chicago from one period of time to another,” Emanuel said. “It was a time of turbulence and a time of transition. Through it all, she stayed true to her vision of making the city that works work better for everyone.”
Velo reflected on the stages of Byrne’s life — from widowed single mother to unlikely mayor, then private citizen who faded from the spotlight. He said the recent news that two Chicago landmarks — Water Tower Park and the Circle Interchange — would be renamed for Byrne gave her great joy in her final days.
“Those were two sunny days in the winter of her life,” Velo said.
Byrne’s daughter, Kathy, gave the eulogy.
“Her last months were her most joyous,” said Kathy Byrne. “My mother never expected to be honored as she was today.”
The visitation and funeral were held at a Lincoln Park church where Byrne’s mother attended grammar school and where her grandparents were early parishioners.
Byrne’s body was driven in a procession from Smith-Corcoran Funeral Home on the Northwest Side, past her childhood home at 5904 N. Kolmar Ave., to St. Vincent de Paul Church, 1010 W. Webster Ave., for services.
A police honor guard carried Byrne’s Chicago flag-draped casket from a hearse into the church, as her daughter and other family members walked behind.
Inside the church during the visitation, before the 11 a.m. funeral, a line of well-wishers stretched to the back door. Among them were Emanuel and wife Amy Rule, former presidential adviser David Axelrod, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and mayoral candidates Ald. Bob Fioretti and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.
Near Byrne’s open casket in front of the church’s ornate altar, people spoke to Kathy Byrne and Kathy’s son Willy.
Cook County Commissioner John Daley said he was appearing at the funeral as the representative of his brother, former Mayor Richard M. Daley, who he said was out of town.
Pausing to talk to reporters, John Daley said Byrne “broke the (Democratic) organization very strongly.”
“Her legacy is that for women and other people who don’t have hope to be elected to office, she gave them hope,” he said.
Byrne was a friend who attended his wedding when he married wife Mary Lou nearly 40 years ago, Daley said.
Remembering those days “brings back a lot of good memories,” he said.
Others attending the viewing included Northwest Side Ald. Tim Cullerton, 38th, former Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Tom Byrne and Cubs fan Ronnie “Woo-Woo” Wickers — dressed in a full home uniform.
Speaking to reporters outside the church, Fioretti said he can draw inspiration from Byrne for his own mayoral run.
“I think Jane Byrne, when she came in she was transformational in what she tried to accomplish,” Fioretti said. “She fought the machine. She fought for neighborhoods. She fought for people.”
Angel Correa, who said he was deputy commissioner for the department of neighborhoods under Byrne, stood outside the church with photos and memorabilia from Byrne’s campaign.
“I’m here because I love that lady,” he said.
Correa said Byrne got him into politics, and he drove her around town during her campaign.
“She was feisty, strong, tough,” he said. “But you know what, deep down in there, she had heart and that’s what counts. And she fought.”
Attorney General Madigan told reporters Byrne inspired not only by blazing a trail for women but with the style and panache with which she accomplished it.
“I remember the very first time I saw her in person,” Madigan said. “She came into a fundraiser and she was just as small as I was. She had on this leather skirt and she was really dynamic and feisty. And she took on the big boys and won, and I think that’s an incredible legacy for all of us.”
Cook County Commissioner and mayoral candidate Garcia credited Byrne for inspiring him and others who might not have thought to get involved in politics to believe they had a chance to get elected.
“She was a trailblazer in Chicago politics and government, someone who I think helped open the doors of City Hall to people who had been shut out,” Garcia said.
Standing outside the church earlier in the morning, Mal Caskey, a bass drummer for the bagpipe-and-drums band the Pipe and Drums of the Emerald Society of the Chicago Police Department, noted this was a special day for his group because Byrne donated $5,000 from her own pocket to found the organization after two police officers were killed when she was mayor.
“At the time, we had to go to New York and ask their bagpipers to come play for funerals here,” Caskey said. “And Mayor Byrne asked why a city like Chicago, with so many people of Irish backgrounds, had to do that. New York had (a pipe-and-drums band), and so did Boston, and so she wrote a check out of her own pocket and contributed the seed money to get this organization started. So that’s something we always remember,” he said.
The funeral procession was to go past City Hall and 111 E. Chestnut St., where Byrne lived for much of her adult life. She will be buried in Calvary Cemetery in Evanston.
Family members ask that in lieu of flowers, donations be made either to the Byrne Chicago Scholarship at Loyola University School of Law, 25. E. Pearson St., Chicago, 60611, or to the National Shrine of St. Jude, c/o the St. Jude League, 205 W. Monroe St., Chicago, 60606.
Byrne, 81, who lost a re-election bid in 1983 to Harold Washington, died Friday morning. She had a stroke last year and was receiving hospice care in a high-rise near the Water Tower, according to her daughter.
Tribune reporters Deanese Williams and Peter Nickeas contributed.
