Mourners Gather To Remember Senator Helms

RALEIGH, N.C. — Mourners who gathered to remember the former North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms yesterday celebrated both sides of his conflicting persona: the cantankerous conservative who reveled in political confrontation and the Southern gentleman who would do anything to lend a hand.

Vice President Cheney attended Helms's funeral along with a cadre of sitting senators, including some Democrats who spent years trying to keep Helms in check.

The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, a Republican of Kentucky, spoke from the pulpit, recalling how Helms enjoyed frustrating rival lawmakers by using congressional rules at times to wreak havoc when he was displeased. Helms, who died on the Fourth of July, had plastered harsh political cartoons lambasting his career around his office and smiled when visitors wondered why.

"Jesse Helms always stood his ground," Mr. McConnell told the packed 800-seat sanctuary at Hayes Barton Baptist Church in Raleigh. "He put duty above all else — duty to God, to country, to family ... the simple duty of treating other people well."