BALTIMORE (AP) – Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have remembered congressman and civil rights leader Elijah Cummings for his honor and commitment to service.
Speaking to mourners at Cummings’ funeral Friday, Clinton recalled the congressman’s talent for speaking and “his booming voice.”
Obama said that when the path ahead looked difficult, that’s when Cummings’ voice mattered most.
He also noted Cummings’ upbringing as the son of sharecroppers, saying his parents passed on strength and grit but also kindness and faith.
Obama said Cummings reminded us “that it falls upon each of us to preserve and nurture our democracy.”
The widow of Congressman Cummings has remembered her late husband as a man of integrity.
Maya Rockeymoore Cummings thanked mourners at his funeral Friday, noting his deep love for his congressional district and Baltimore.
She recalled his defense of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was in the front row of the New Psalmist Baptist Church, and said he was a “man of soul and spirit” who felt very deeply.
Her voice rising, she said Cummings had the “utmost integrity” and cared deeply about our democracy, planet and community.
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