News & Observer - Witnesses to history at Duke, April 23, 1998

By SUSAN KAUFFMAN, Staff Writer

DURHAM -- The dignitaries shared their stories about Terry Sanford in Duke Chapel on Wednesday. But before and after the funeral, while being shuttled to and from remote parking lots, people from all walks of life spoke about the man and the event.

"The spirit was wonderful," Samuel Cook, retired president of Dillard University in New Orleans, said after the service. "You felt something deep. The tears were there, but when a man of great decency like that passes from the scene, there's always need for some tears."

"I feel less secure in this world with Terry gone," said Cook, who in 1966 became Duke University's first black professor.

The funeral, which drew political figures from across the state and nation, was a tribute that might have amazed Sanford himself.

Some said the gentle, soft-spoken man would have shaken his head and rolled his piercing blue eyes at all the pomp and ceremony during the 1 3/4-hour service.

"He would have wanted it shorter," David Ross of Durham said with a smile as he rode a shuttle bus to the parking lot after the funeral. "He would have said that it was too long. But lots needed to be said."

Some people questioned why neither President Clinton nor Vice President Al Gore attended the funeral.

"I wonder if you're a former senator, you get a Cabinet member; if you're a former head of state, you get the vice president," said Lee Canipe, a Duke Divinity School student from Greensboro. He kept an eye out for famous visitors as he sat in a class on "Women and Evangelism."

Others said it didn't matter that neither Clinton nor Gore attended. What mattered, they said, was that those who admired Sanford got a chance to see him off.

Vince Hindman, a Duke junior who grew up in Gastonia, skipped class to attend the funeral. For him, it was enough that Sanford was being honored by the state and the university that he led.

"Sanford's a North Carolina person," Hindman said. "I think he would have liked having [Gov. Jim] Hunt speak. It was kind of like having his hometown people."

Among the mourners were lawmakers, judges, Duke staff members and alumni, and local government officials. Some former Duke employees came back to honor their old boss.

"He was a very calming influence when there was a lot of student unrest across the country," said Lillian Lee, who graduated from Duke in 1943 and worked in the Residential Life office before retiring. "Students listened to him."

Many said Sanford had touched their lives personally. Others viewed the funeral as a momentous event that they just wanted to be a part of.

"It's history, and I love history," said Richard Conrad of Thomasville, who described himself as a lifelong Democrat, a biographer and a music teacher. "I voted for Terry Sanford for everything he ran for."

For some people, the funeral was a news event not to be missed.

"It's hard not to get caught up in it with all the news vans around," said Jeff Zaidman, a Duke junior from Virginia, who watched on television as an honor guard from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division removed the American flag from Sanford's casket while taps was sounded.

"More than anything, he seems to be someone everyone admires," Zaidman said.

A cluster of divinity students stood in front of the chapel commenting on the prominent figures they had spotted arriving for the service.

"I saw Erskine Bowles, Rufus Edmisten, Mel Watt and Bob Kerrey," said Canipe, the North Carolina native.

"Coach K's there, that's all that mattered," joked John Sweeney, a divinity student from Mississippi, who saw Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski enter the chapel.

Classes at Duke were not canceled during the service. Some students felt they should have been.

"I would have loved to go, but it's the end of the semester," said Ashlan Reid, a sophomore from Arkansas who watched the conclusion of the service on a snack bar TV.

"I think he was very genuine. Students called him 'Uncle Terry'. I just wish he was still here."

© 1998 The News & Observer Publishing Co. / Raliegh, NC  Used by permission.

Class on the Sanford Building Lawn
Class on the Sanford Building Lawn