President Joe Biden capped a sombre but solemn funeral for Ethel Kennedy in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, echoing thoughtful remarks from dozens of other mourners touched by her decades of love and work.

According to her family, Kennedy died on October 10, two days after suffering a stroke in her sleep. She was 96 years old.

Her service at St. Matthew the Apostle Cathedral included performances from Sting, Kenny Chesney and Stevie Wonder, all of whom honored her years of service.

Biden held back tears as he reflected on how Kennedy had touched him personally since he took office and expressed gratitude for that love.

“We are a better nation and a better world because of Ethel Kennedy,” he said.

Biden spoke about how Kennedy was there for him after his first wife Neilia and daughter Naomi died in a car accident in 1972, shortly before he was sworn into the Senate.

“Along with Teddy (Kennedy), she got me through a time where I didn’t want to stay, I didn’t want to be in Congress and the Senate. I mean, I talked to my governor because we elected a Democrat.” Governor to find a replacement for me, but Teddy and Ethel Kennedy were there “No, none of that,” the president said.

“The fact is that, as she did for the country, she helped my family find a path (with) principles and goals,” he said.

Biden also spoke about how Ethel Kennedy and her family showed their support when his son Beau Biden died in 2015. He returned the gesture to the Kennedys on Wednesday.

“To the Kennedy family, the Biden family is there for you, just as you have always been for us,” he said.

Several of Ethel Kennedy’s children, whom she shared with Robert F. Kennedy, her grandchildren and other relatives praised her during the mass. Each spoke about their memories of her as well as her work fighting for civil rights and other social issues.

“Her mission was to keep her father’s legacy alive, but in fulfilling that mission, she now leaves us a legacy that is truly hers,” said daughter Kerry Kennedy.

Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also praised Ethel and each recalled personal anecdotes.

Obama recalled how Ethel Kennedy gave him a great blessing after his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and noted how he, too, was impressed by her decades of service.

“Her joy, her zest for life, her love for people helped to fuel in her a righteous anger about the many injustices in our world,” Obama said.

Clinton joked that Ethel Kennedy would “flirt with me in the most innocent way possible.”

“I thought your mother was the cat’s meow,” he said, which was met with laughter.

Clinton added that Ethel Kennedy would always welcome everyone and make them feel like family.

“She really wanted to be your mother, grandmother and mother-in-law. She was an amazing fireball full of non-stop energy. It was wonderful to be around them,” he said.

She was born Ethel Skakel in Chicago in 1928 and grew up in New England. She entered the Kennedy family’s life when she attended Manhattanville College and met Jean Kennedy, who introduced her to her brother Bobby.

The couple married in 1950 and their daughter Kathleen – the first of their eleven children – was born a year later.

The family moved to D.C., where Bobby Kennedy worked as a lawyer in the Justice Department. In 1960, the family came more into the spotlight after John F. Kennedy was elected president and Bobby Kennedy was appointed attorney general.

After JFK’s assassination, Bobby Kennedy remained politically active and campaigned for the presidency in 1968.

Robert Kennedy said of his wife during his victory speech in the Indiana primary that she “made such a big difference in this campaign and a big difference to me.”

But two months later, on June 5, 1968, an assassin’s bullet ended Robert Kennedy’s life as he gave a victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California primary. Ethel Kennedy, who witnessed her husband’s assassination, became a widow at the age of 40 with ten children and was pregnant with the couple’s eleventh child. She would never marry again.

After her husband’s death, Ethel Kennedy became active in social causes, including gun control, and founded the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center to continue her husband’s work for justice and human rights.

In 2014, Obama presented Ethel Kennedy with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

“She is a symbol of enduring faith and enduring hope, even in the face of unimaginable loss and unimaginable grief,” Obama said during the medal ceremony.

ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.