Biden to speak at Stevens funeral

Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Anchorage, Alaska, to speak Wednesday at the funeral of former Sen. Ted Stevens. 

Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate's history, died Aug. 9 when his plane crashed in the remote mountains of southern Alaska. His funeral will be held at Anchorage Baptist Temple. 

Biden, who represented Delaware in the Senate before becoming vice president, said he and his wife knew Stevens well. 

"Jill and I had genuine affection for Ted," Biden said last week. "As senators, he and I bonded over shared similar family tragedies, but we also celebrated life's great moments together, too, like the births of our daughters a few days apart. We served together for more than 30 years, but more than that, he was my friend and I will miss him."

Biden's first wife and 18-month-old daughter were killed in a car crash in 1972. Stevens's first wife died in a plane crash in 1978.

A public viewing is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday at another Anchorage church, where Stevens is lying in respose.