BOSTON: Mourning for Senator Edward M. Kennedy continues for a second day, with thousands arriving to pay their final respects.

The John F Kennedy Library and Museum where Kennedy’s body is lying in repose is scheduled to open at 1200 GMT today, but hundreds of people had lined up well before then.

Closing is scheduled for 1900 GMT. More than 21,000 people filed past Kennedy’s casket yesterday, so many that the hours were extended until 0600 GMT today.

A private memorial for family and invited friends will be held at the library this evening.

US Vice President Joe Biden as well as Senators John McCain, Orrin Hatch and Christopher Dodd are expected to speak.

A funeral Mass is scheduled for Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston tomorrow. President Barack Obama is expected to deliver the eulogy.

Many of the people who took time out to pay their respects to Kennedy yesterday said they did so because he had made time for them at some point during his 47 years in office.

As mourners stood in line for as long as 2 1/2 hours, members of the Kennedy family, including some grandchildren, came out and thanked them for coming.

Ellen Freed, 38, a resident of Brookline, said that visiting JFL Library and Museum for the viewing was a way to thank the late senator. She has epilepsy and credits Kennedy for her federally assisted housing.

“If it wasn’t for Ted Kennedy, I would be homeless,” she said.

The public event followed a private Mass yesterday at the family compound in Hyannis Port, where the senator died of brain cancer this week at age 77. The family watched as the casket was loaded into a hearse for the journey to Boston.

Hyannis Port residents Caron Potts, 45, and her spouse, Mary Canavan, 51, watched the motorcade leave Cape Cod and said they felt a personal connection to the senator, having often seeing him at the beach and chatting with him as they walked their dogs.

The couple described Kennedy, a supporter of gay civil rights and same-sex marriage, as someone down to earth who seemed genuinely interested in their lives - and they said the neighbourhood won’t be the same without him.

“I think it will be missing the ambiance he always presented,” Potts said. “I think it will be a sombre time period.” The late Senator’s loved ones - including niece Caroline, daughter of former President John F Kennedy, and son Patrick, a Rhode Island Congressman - joined in the private Mass. As the motorcade pulled away, Patrick Kennedy sat near tears in the passenger seat of the hearse. The procession passed many landmarks that were significant to the senator and his family. All the living presidents were expected to attend the funeral.