WASHINGTON — Colin Powell, the former U.S. secretary of state and chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, was remembered Friday as both a skilled military leader and diplomat and a warm and thoughtful colleague, friend and father during a memorial service at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.
WATCH: Colin Powell’s funeral
Powell died last month at the age of 84 from complications associated with COVID-19. Those who gathered to remember him included U.S. President Joe Biden; former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama; former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
President Biden and the former presidents and first ladies all sat together in a single pew in the front of the cathedral.
Richard Armitage, who served under Powell at the State Department as deputy secretary of state and had known him since they served together in the Pentagon, spoke of Powell’s natural leadership abilities, as well as his warmth and humanity.
Armitage said that while they shared many things, they did not always agree on music. He said Powell was a lover of the Swedish pop group ABBA and once, as secretary of state, sang the entire song “Mama Mia” for the Swedish ambassador. An instrumental version of the group’s song “Dancing Queen” was played Friday as people filed into the cathedral.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright who was Powell’s immediate predecessor as the nation’s top diplomat remembered the general and statesman as one of the warmest, kindest individuals she had ever met. She said Powell rejected political hyperbole and cared only about achieving results. “He made pragmatism charismatic,” Albright said.
Speaking last, Powell’s son, Michael, described his father’s journey, as the son of Jamaican immigrants who rose to the pinnacle of power, as “an American journey.” He described his father as “a great lion with a big heart,” and wondered if this is still a country where his kind could flourish again.
The younger Powell said, “I hope we recommit ourselves to becoming a nation that is still making his kind.”
