Former Vice President Dick Cheney memorialized at Washington National Cathedral funeral

[Episcopal News Service] Family, friends, colleagues and all living former vice presidents gathered Nov. 20 to pay tribute to the life of former Vice President Dick Cheney, whose funeral was held at Washington National Cathedral, the iconic Episcopal house of worship in the nation’s capital.

Former President George W. Bush and Cheney’s daughter, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, were among those who offered eulogies for Cheney, who died Nov. 3 at age 84. Cheney, whose nearly 40 years of public service included roles in four presidential administrations, was remembered for his love of family, love of country, loyalty to his friends and his fondness for fly fishing.

“Twenty-five years ago, I had a big choice to make, a big job to fill,” Bush said. He described how Cheney had agreed to lead Bush’s efforts to find a worthy running mate for the 2000 presidential election — someone with “preparedness, mature judgment, rectitude and loyalty.”

“I realized the best choice for vice president was the man sitting right in front of me,” Bush said.

After their election on the Republican ticket, Cheney would become the 46th vice president of the United States serving from 2001-2009. In that typically unsung office, he was respected by admirers for his resolute leadership, especially in the global conflicts that followed the Sept. 11, 2001. At the same time, he often was vilified by critics for pushing to expand the authority of the executive branch and for joining other Bush administration officials in advocating foreign interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq that later turned disastrous.

In his eulogy, Bush focused mostly on his personal recollections of the man who served next to him in the White House. “In a profession that attracts talkers, he was a thinker and a listener,” Bush said, and when Cheney did speak up, “you knew you were getting the best of a highly disciplined mind.”

“We are grateful for his good life, we honor his service and we pray that somewhere up the trail we will meet him again.”

Washington National Cathedral, the seat of both The Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop and the bishop of the Diocese of Washington, has been chosen for several presidential funerals, most recently Jimmy Carter in January 2025, as well as the funerals of other prominent political leaders. For Cheney’s funeral, Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and National Cathedral Dean Randy Hollerith officiated.

The funeral’s service program is available here.

“We gather in this sacred space to give God thanks for a life of purpose, a life of conviction and a life of service,” Hollerith said in his sermon. “He carried the weight of responsibility with quiet strength and resolve. Through it all, his heart belonged to his family.”

Cheney, a lifelong Wyoming resident, was first drawn to politics in the 1960s, when he began working for Republicans in his home state, then Wisconsin and ultimately Washington, D.C. After working as a staff member in the Nixon administration, he was chosen by President Gerald Ford as his chief of staff in 1975.

He later was elected as Wyoming’s representative in Congress. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush named him secretary of defense, a role that figured prominently in the planning and execution of the 1990 Persian Gulf War. Later, after his eight years as vice president under George W. Bush, Cheney mostly stepped back from public life. In 2024, he again generated headlines when he announced he was voting for the Democratic presidential candidate, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, rather than support Donald Trump, saying democracy was at stake.

Harris and former President Joe Biden attended Cheney’s funeral. Neither Trump nor his vice president, JD Vance, were invited.

Cheney’s daughter Liz Cheney, also a vocal Trump opponent during last year’s election, declined to address the nation’s political divisions while eulogizing her father at National Cathedral.

“My dad’s devotion to America was deep and substantive,” she said. She told childhood stories of family trips to Civil War battlefields and other historic sites, where her father would require the family to take their time while he read every sign at every site.

“He knew you couldn’t truly appreciate what it means to live in freedom if you didn’t understand the sacrifices of the generations who came before,” she said, “and he made sure that his children and grandchildren understood this too.”

Three of Dick Cheney’s seven grandchildren also spoke fondly of their family life — their holiday dinners and watching John Wayne movies, Cheney’s diligence about attending grandson Richard Perry’s high school football games, his invitations to his grandchildren to go fly fishing with him, even after they accidentally “hooked him with an out-of-control cast,” granddaughter Elizabeth Perry recalled.

Grace Perry said she grew closer to her grandfather through her love of rodeo-riding, which may have given Cheney the distinction of being the only “vice president-turned-rodeo grandpa.”

Pete Williams, who served as Cheney’s Pentagon press secretary under President George H.W. Bush, described him as a most unusual politician, known for his loyalty. “As his circle of friends kept growing, he did not abandon those who helped him along the way.”

And for a vice president known nearly as much for his cardiac health — he survived five heart attacks and a heart transplant — as for his politics, it was perhaps not surprising that one of the eulogies at his funeral was delivered by his longtime cardiologist, Dr. Jonathan Reiner.

“No one wants a doctor who’s great at funerals,” he joked, before proceeding to describe Cheney as a “remarkable patient.”

“He was an American patriot and a man who loved his family,” Reiner said. “It was honored to be his doctor. It was an even greater honor to be his friend.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.