Slideshow: The Mayor lies in state

Monday, September 04, 2006

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Multimedia presentation by
Matt Freed and Annie O'Neill
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Hundreds of Pittsburghers filed through the great hallway in the City-County Building yesterday to pay their respects to the late Mayor Bob O'Connor.

The mourners, some wearing their Sunday best and others wrapped in the comfort of their Steelers sweatshirts and jeans, each paused for a moment alongside the late mayor's flag-draped coffin before turning to express prayers, shared sadness and best wishes to his widow, Judy, and O'Connor family members.

The procession began promptly at noon with a playing by the Greater Pittsburgh Police Pipes and Drums corps. Then, amid an honor guard of police officers and representatives of the city's fire department, members of the O'Connor family approached the coffin.

Mrs. O'Connor, ushered to the front, wept quietly as she leaned her head down to the casket, the palms of her hands spread flat on the surface of the American flag. There, in the hallway full of spectators, she spent almost a minute alone in her thoughts of her late husband.

Nearby, grandchildren sobbed, young couples hugged each other and police officers standing at attention wiped away tears.

After the O'Connor family members each had a moment alongside the coffin, they gathered behind velvet ropes to greet the Pittsburghers -- all of them friends, whether they knew them or not -- who followed.

The O'Connor family left at 2 p.m., but the procession of Pittsburghers stretched through the night and is expected to continue until 10 p.m. tonight, when the doors at the City-County Building will finally close.

Multimedia Index

First published on September 4, 2006 at 12:00 am

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Bagpipe music by the Greater Pittsburgh Police Pipes and Drums corps. Post-Gazette reporter Dan Majors contributed the text for this page. The presentation was produced by Curt Chandler.