A neighborhood says goodbye to its mayor

At first, the mood was almost festive. Schoolkids and many adults waved flags - some handed out by Carlos Arredondo - and friends and neighbors reminisced. But as the sirens of the motorcycle cops began to echo down Cummins Highway and the funeral procession appeared, heading down the hill into Roslindale Square, the crowds gathered around Adams Park hushed.

It seemed appropriate that as the procession made the turn from Washington onto South, it was welcomed by a sign that still proclaimed Thomas M. Menino the mayor:

As the procession went through the heart of the square that Tom Menino helped bring back to life, people slowly waved at the people inside the limousines. They held up their "Thank you, Mayor Menino" signs. Next to me, a man softly said, "thank you, Tommy."

"Godspeed Mayor Menino," Dana Reichman Gitell wrote as a caption for her photo of the hearse on Poplar Street:

And then, the procession was gone, on its way to Hyde Park, for a funeral mass and burial. And people in Roslindale began to clap.