Public wake, private funeral for Sargent Shriver

The public will be allowed to say goodbye to Sargent Shriver Friday afternoon at a public wake in Washington, D.C. The funeral mass for the first director of the Peace Corps will be private.

Saturday’s funeral for Shriver will take place at a Maryland church not far from the nation’s capitol. Shriver was a regular fixture at Our Lady of Mercy Parish for nearly a quarter of a century. He died Tuesday at the age of 95, about a decade after doctors diagnosed him with Alzheimer’s disease.

Half a century ago, Shriver set aside his own political ambitions to help his brother-in-law John F. Kennedy run for president. JFK tapped Shriver to run the Peace Corps. He later helped establish its domestic counterpart VISTA, the Volunteers In Service To America, as well as Head Start and the Job Corps.

Remembering Sargent Shriver
Only family and invited guests may attend Shriver’s funeral. California’s former first lady Maria Shriver and her brother, Santa Monica city councilman Bobby Shriver, will attend their father's service. Sargent Shriver will be buried in Massachusetts, alongside his wife Eunice Kennedy Shriver.