Thousands mourn wife of ex-Chicago mayor

Former Mayor Richard Daley kissed the coffin holding Maggie Corbett Daley, his last public display of affection for his wife of 39 years before she was carried Monday from Old St. Patrick's Catholic Church for a private burial.

Among the mourners were first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, dozens of other officials and all other manner of movers and shakers. They sat and stood, in some cases side by side, with ordinary Chicagoans who got to the church early to get inside.

Thousands more watched video from an overflow room in the church's basement, in a nearby park or on television as Daley, along with his brothers, children and grandchildren, paid homage to the woman that the Rev. Jack Wall called "beloved Maggie."

"We're here to thank God for this wonderful gift, this beautiful lady," said Wall, pastor emeritus and the Daleys' family priest, as Cardinal Francis George looked on. "We're here to thank Maggie."

Wall lauded her founding of the After School Matters program, her success in helping transform the city's old library into the Chicago Cultural Center and her husband's efforts, through her inspiration, to live up to Chicago's motto, "Urbs in horto," or city in a garden.

And the priest recalled her all-but-legendary dignity and grace in a long battle with metastatic breast cancer that claimed her after nine years on Thanksgiving Day, her love of life and how she declared her own "blue law" by requiring the former mayor to take Sundays off to be with family.

Wall's homily came amid a Mass that included Bible readings from Nora Daley Conroy and Lally Daley Hotchkiss, the couple's two daughters, and an emotional family reflection, delivered by Patrick, their only surviving son.

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