Late sen. John McCain’s body will lie in state at the Arizona Capitol until Thursday

The body of the late Senator John McCain arrived at the Arizona state capitol building in Phoenix on Wednesday, where he will lie in state until Thursday.

On the first of five days of public and private events honoring the Republican senator’s life, friends and family of the late senator gathered at the Arizona Capitol, to honor one of the nation’s leading political lights now dimmed.
His flag-draped coffin was taken by honor guard into the Capitol building on what would have been his 82nd birthday.
Cindy McCain, in her first public appearance since her husband’s death, accompanied his body as did the couple’s children.
The motorcade with John McCain’s casket arrives at Arizona’s capitol .
McCain [seen her in one of his last photos with his daughter Meghan],  died Saturday of brain cancer at age 81. His body lies in state Wednesday at the state capitol, where several of his former colleagues will deliver tributes during an afternoon memorial service before doors open for members of the public to pay their respects.
“It’s a big loss, and to have this on his birthday is a special time here at the Capitol,” said Sen. Jeff Flake, the junior senator from Arizona delivered the benediction at Wednesday’s memorial service.

L-R; John McCain’s widow Cindy McCain accompanied by their children  Jack, Jimmy, Meghan and Bridget McCain pay their respects to their departed husband and father at the state Capitol building on Wednesday

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime friend of the family, said on Tuesday that Cindy McCain is putting one foot in front of another as she prepares for five days of memorials before the late senator is buried at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., on Sunday.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and his wife Angela greeted the McCain family.
He recalled a lunch the couple had with the McCains, ‘He said ‘my biggest challenge is whether or not to run for re-election in 2022.
‘ Dying as has been observed 50 years earlier, was not in his plan,’ Ducey said in a ceremony at the Capitol.

‘We can be proud he was our Senator. I consider it a privilege to have served with John and I will miss him as a friend and as a strong force for America in the world,’ Kyl said.
At the ceremony’s conclusion, Cindy McCain lead the mourners in paying tribute to her husband. She walked to his coffin and placed her cheek on it before patting the flag and walking away.