Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Edward Kennedy was remembered as a passionate public servant who loved his family, friends and a good laugh during a memorial service on the eve of his funeral and burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

“It was never about him, it was always about you, a truly remarkable character trait,” said Vice President Joe Biden, one of many who recalled personal kindnesses performed for them by Kennedy.

“Your father was a historic figure,” Biden said to Kennedy’s three children at the service last night at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. “He was a heroic figure beyond that” for his support of Americans trying to “start over again,” the vice president said.

The funeral for Kennedy, who died Aug. 25 at age 77 of brain cancer, will be held today at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston. President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak. Afterward, the senator will be buried at the national cemetery outside Washington near his two brothers -- President Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, and Robert Kennedy, killed by a gunman in 1968.

“John Fitzgerald Kennedy inspired our America; Robert Kennedy challenged our America; and Teddy changed our America,” said Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut. “He was a champion for countless people who otherwise might not have had one, and he never quit on them, never gave up on the belief that we could make tomorrow a better day. Never.”

Frequent Laughter

The audience laughed frequently at the stories told by speakers. Dodd recalled that after he underwent prostate surgery a few weeks ago, Kennedy called him, saying in a booming voice, “between going through prostate cancer surgery and doing town hall meetings, you made the right choice!”

Kennedy’s niece Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late president, spoke about how her uncle used to take his nieces and nephews on “family history trips,” including one miserable campout that he abandoned to check into a Ritz hotel.

“Now Teddy has become a part of history,” she said.

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah recalled that although he came to Washington to “fight Ted Kennedy,” the senator wound up becoming “one of my closest friends in the world.”

“He and I didn’t agree on much,” Hatch said, adding that Kennedy sometimes would “lay into me with the harshest red-meat liberal rhetoric you could imagine.” Minutes later, Kennedy would come up and ask him, “How’d I do, Orrin?”

“I miss fighting in public and joking with him in the back room,” Hatch said, his voice quavering.

‘Large Family’

Kennedy’s nephew, Joseph P. Kennedy II, a former congressman and the son of the late New York Senator Robert Kennedy, said his uncle had to look after “one very, very large family” after the assassinations of Joseph’s father and President Kennedy.

“For so many of us, we just needed someone to hang on to, and Teddy was always there to hang on to,” his nephew said. “He had such a big heart and he shared that heart with all of us.”

Arizona Senator John McCain, last year’s Republican presidential nominee, said that when he and Kennedy worked together on an immigration bill, “he was the best ally you could have.”

“He was the most reliable, the most prepared, and the most persistent member of the Senate,” McCain said. “He took the long view. He never gave up.”

Work on Issues

Massachusetts’ other senator, Democrat John Kerry, cited Kennedy’s work on matters such as the Americans With Disabilities Act, workplace safety, children’s health issues and Meals on Wheels.

“He labored with all his might to make health care a right for all Americans and we will do that in his honor,” Kerry said.

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley will preside over today’s funeral in his role as Archbishop of Boston and will lead the final prayers of commendation.

Obama’s eulogy is “obviously going to be very personal,” White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters on Aug. 27. The president has been vacationing this week on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard.

More than 33,000 mourners filed past Kennedy’s flag-draped casket during the past two days at the library in Boston. His widow, Victoria, and other family members greeted visitors before the doors to the library, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, were closed to the public yesterday.

Thousands of People

Thousands of people waited alongside roads and on overpasses two days ago to glimpse the black hearse bearing Kennedy’s body from his home in Hyannis Port.

Before arriving at the museum, the motorcade toured Boston, the city Kennedy’s grandfather John F. Fitzgerald once served as mayor. Among the locations the motorcade passed were the federal building named for his brother John, the office where he served as a Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney and the church where his mother, Rose, was baptized.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Moroney in Boston at tmorrone@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 29, 2009 00:00 EDT