Specter's funeral draws 1,500 mourners

PENN VALLEY, Pa., Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Nearly 1,500 mourners filled a Penn Valley, Pa., temple Tuesday in a moving funeral ceremony for Sen. Arlen Specter, 82, who died Sunday.

Following the two-hour service at Har Zion Temple, Specter's casket was wheeled out to Frank Sinatra's recording of "My Way," the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Tuesday.

The fiercely independent senator, who represented Pennsylvania for 30 years and often criticized the decline of congressional bipartisanship and compromise, battled non-Hodgkin's lymphoma after being first diagnosed with the disease in 2005.

Mourners included a large contingent of political leaders, including Vice President Joe Biden and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett. Also present was Angela Cataldi, who often invited Specter to speak about the Philadelphia Eagles football team on her radio program, the Inquirer reported.

"We want to member and not lose focus on the man," said Rabbi Samuel Kieffer, after reciting a list of Specter's accomplishments, from Philadelphia district attorney to the U.S. Senate.

Other speakers included Biden, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Specter's two sons and two of his granddaughters, and Judge Jan Ely DuBois, a classmate of Specter's at the University of Pennsylvania, the newspaper said.

Burial took place at Shalom Memorial Park in Huntington Valley.