By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
Former U.S. Senator Bob Dole returned to his home state of Kansas for the final time late this afternoon.
Dole died Sunday in Washington, D.C. He was 98.
The plane landed after 5 p.m. Friday at the Salina Regional Airport. Dignitaries, including Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, were on hand as Dole's flag-draped casket was taken off the plane and placed in a hearse by a military honor guard.
As the motorcade left the airport for a trip west to Russell, Dole's hometown, it drove past a flag line of veterans that was organized by the American Legion Riders.
On Saturday, Dole's casket will be driven to special locations in Russell, including his boyhood home, on the way to St. Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church, where a public viewing is scheduled for 9-10:30 a.m. At 11 a.m., a service will be conducted and will include tribute remarks from Kelly, former Senator Pat Roberts, Senator Jerry Moran, and Senator Roger Marshall. An aide involved with planning the Kansas portion of the Dole remembrance ceremonies said that approximately 50 members of Congress planned to attend the service in Russell.
Dole's casket is scheduled to leave Russell by motorcade at 1 p.m. The motorcade will travel to Topeka, where Kelly and a delegation of Kansas officials will receive Dole's casket at the Kansas State Capitol, where it will be placed in a position of repose on the first floor of the rotunda. A public ceremony at the capitol is scheduled to include remarks by Kelly, Moran, Marshall, former U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker, and former Congressman James Slattery.
After the service, Dole's casket and family will return to Washington, D.C. Interment details are forthcoming.
