Mayor’s Funeral Procession to Pass through Kenmore Square
Local venue will honor Menino's time at BU
Tens of thousands of admirers, friends, and constituents of former Mayor Thomas M. Menino (Hon.’01), Boston’s longest serving mayor, are expected to line the route of the beloved pol’s funeral procession this morning. Menino lay in state yesterday at Boston’s Faneuil Hall as thousands came to pay their respects, and the procession will depart from there at 10:45 a.m. and end in Hyde Park, where a private funeral mass will be held at Most Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church. The body of the five-term mayor will travel through the neighborhoods of the city that he loved, passing places of significance to the mayor. According to the Menino family’s website, the pass through Kenmore Square, close to Menino’s office on Bay State Road, honors the former mayor’s tenure at BU, where he codirected the Initiative on Cities (IoC), a new research center devoted to improving all aspects of urban government. BU administrators suggest that the best viewing site for students is the north side of Kenmore Square, near Barnes & Noble at BU, and they recommend that spectators get there by 10:45 a.m. to guarantee the best viewing opportunity. Read more about the processional route and the significance of the places it passes here.
A number of venues along the procession route will be handing out free “Thank you Mayor Menino” signs for bystanders to hold as the motorcade passes, including Cornwall’s at 654 Beacon St. and Fenway Park (Gate D on Yawkey Way) beginning at 10:30 a.m.
Scott Paré, BU’s director of public safety and BUPD deputy chief, reminds students that funeral processions have extraordinary right of way. “They don’t have to stop for red lights or stop signs,” says Paré. “Students who are used to automatically crossing as soon as they see the light change should wait to cross intersections until after the funeral procession has completely passed by.”
Menino had long been a friend of Boston University. In addition to serving since February as codirector of the IoC, he received an honorary degree from BU in 2001, and at the 2013 Commencement ceremony was awarded the Boston University Medallion for his service to the community. At that time, President Robert A. Brown announced that the Boston Scholars Program, which awards merit scholarships to graduates of the city’s public schools, would be renamed the Thomas M. Menino Scholarship Program and its recipients would be called Menino Scholars.
Menino died on Thursday, October 30, at the age of 71, one week after he suspended treatment for advanced cancer that had been diagnosed shortly after he left office last January after 20 years as Boston’s mayor.
Comments & Discussion
Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.