South Carolina said goodbye Tuesday to Strom Thurmond -- escorted through the capital by a riderless horse, mourned by thousands in church and along streets and highways, buried in the wet earth of his hometown.

He was remembered as a man who loved his state so greatly that he served it for 70 years, and as a man who loved his people so well, he proved he could change for them -- and with them.

The day of events honoring Thurmond began in the gray morning, as his body was lying in state in the State House where he once served as governor and senator.

It ended in a cool mist over Edgefield, as 600 people walked behind a horse-drawn caisson carrying his coffin and waited while he was buried in his family plot.

Thurmond died Thursday at 100. In that century, he was a teacher, a judge, a soldier; a Democrat, a Dixiecrat, a Republican; a governor, a presidential candidate, a U.S. senator; a husband, a father and, in his last days, a grandfather.

His funeral at Columbia's First Baptist Church lasted two hours, featured a choir 130 members strong, a congregation of 3,000 people, and more than 200 political leaders, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

State Sen. Kay Patterson, D-Richland, said Thurmond was extraordinary because he was good to all the state's people.

"I want to thank the Lord that Strom passed this way," Patterson said, "because Strom was a man of integrity and honor, and he helped many people."

Cheney described Thurmond's life as "rich in years" and "filled with firsts" -- the first U.S. senator elected on a write-in ballot, the oldest and the longest-serving senator ever.

But it was U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del. -- a self-described Northeast liberal who disagreed with Thurmond on almost every issue -- who elicited the most laughs, the most muffled "wows" and the most tears.

Biden, 60, described arriving in Washington as a freshman senator at 29, "emboldened, angered and outraged" at the treatment of blacks and at what Thurmond stood for. He knew Thurmond as the presidential candidate of 1948, who ran on a pledge to preserve segregation.

"Then I met the man," he said.

"Strom was a product of his time, but he understood people. He cared for them."

Thurmond was responsive to the times he lived in -- the early, unapologetic days of segregation, the angry battles over civil rights and the more recent days of equal treatment.

"Strom knew America was changing‘ .‘.‘. and he knew the time had come to change himself."

At the funeral, Thurmond's wife, Nancy, and children Strom Jr., Julie and Paul sat together, leaning on one another at poignant moments -- the singing of "How Great Thou Art," the grazing of friends' fingers over the casket.

Paul and Julie both held white handkerchiefs and constantly wiped tears from their cheeks.

One of Thurmond's former proteges, William "Billy" Wilkins, of Greenville, chief judge of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., said Thurmond will be remembered for his works.

"If everyone whom Strom Thurmond has helped were to place but one rose at his grave, he would sleep beneath a wilderness of beauty."

Many touched by Thurmond were in the audience, some arriving at 11:30 a.m. to be sure of a seat for the 1 p.m. funeral.

Beforehand, they huddled in the pews, studying the program and sharing stories.

At the State House, before the funeral, hundreds braved a steady drizzle to watch soldiers carry Thurmond's casket down the steep south steps.

The crowd was diverse: black and white, young and old. State office workers took short breaks to watch; retirees and young mothers with children carried cameras.

The casket, draped in an American flag, covered in plastic, was loaded onto a black caisson -- an Army wagon once used to carry artillery ammunition.

Then, Thurmond began his last trip through the streets of the capital -- pulled by six white horses, English Shire and Percheron draft horses. A seventh, symbolizing that a fallen warrior would rise no more, trailed the processional.

Along the route, crews working on the 17-story Meridian office tower stood motionless behind the work site's fence.

Some observers whispered to others to turn off cell phones so a call wouldn't break the silence. Diners stopped eating lunch to stare out restaurant windows as the caisson passed by.

Dianne Scott, 60, of West Columbia, hid from the rain at a bus stop at Gervais and Sumter streets. "This is one person who can't be replaced."

The procession grew as more and more people joined the crowd, up Gervais Street, to Sumter, to Hampton, where First Baptist dominates a city block.

As the rain grew steadier, the state's political elite formed two columns on the church steps. They flanked Thurmond's casket as soldier pallbearers representing all branches of the military carried it up the white stairway.

Later, as the service ended just before 3 p.m., a lone bagpiper wailed "Amazing Grace."

The casket was carried out of the church, down the stairs and placed into the hearse that would carry it the 75 miles to the family burial site in Edgefield.

Sally Truss, 53, of Camden, came alone to the service. She wore a wide black hat with roses along the brim. "He loved women, so I figured, 'Dress up, and get out there.'"

In the balcony, she sat alone, dabbing her eyes. She was the last to leave the church, moved by stories of a man she'd never met, the beauty of the music, the grand horses.

"It does something to your soul to see anything well done," Truss said. "His life was done well, and his celebration was done well."

In Edgefield, about 1,200 people attended the graveside ceremony, sometimes under heavy rainfall.

Julie Thurmond Whitmer brought Thurmond's 2-week-old grandson, Tate, to the service to join the rest of the family.

The Rev. Fred W. Andrea III, pastor of First Baptist Church in Aiken, said Thurmond was a man of trusting faith, vibrant hope and active love.

"Thurmond knew what mattered in life, love, and he knew what really lasts -- love."

Staff writers Clif LeBlanc, Gina Smith, Jeff Wilkinson, Jon Benedict and Jamie Kennedy contributed to this report.