Air Force Staff Sgt. Quincy Garner of Acton, Mass., a KU graduate, plays Taps in memory of Sen. Edward Kennedy prior to a baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park in Boston on Wednesday.

Sheyda Jahanbani was an intern for Sen. Edward Kennedy in the 1990s when she noticed how one of the nation’s most accomplished lawmakers would sit through committee hearings.

The Massachusetts Democrat wouldn’t just take his turn to ask a question for a chance to get on C-Span.

“He stayed there, and he asked questions, and he listened even when the cameras were off,” said Jahanbani, now a Kansas University assistant professor of history. “That was just the level of extraordinary dedication and real interest that I think made him unbelievably successful.”

As his family announced early Wednesday that Kennedy, 77, had died from brain cancer, Kansans with ties to the liberal icon reflected on his legacy and talked about the void his absence could leave in the Senate, especially as Congress works on a major health care overhaul, a topic close to Kennedy’s heart.

Jonathan Earle, an associate director at the Dole Institute of Politics, said Kennedy became an expert at crafting legislation and knowing when to reach across the aisle and compromise while still getting what he wanted out of a bill.

“I think that’s what makes this moment in our politics so poignant. Who is going to step into that void? Maybe no one,” Earle said.

Kennedy’s recent absence in the Senate leading up to his death has likely hindered progress on health care reform, a major goal of the Obama administration, Earle said, but his death could also bring Democrats together and rally them to work harder on trying to pass something.

The praise for Kennedy on Wednesday in Kansas also came from both sides of the aisle.

Former Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Dole served with Kennedy for nearly three decades in the Senate, and they often clashed as high-profile members of opposite parties. But Dole called Kennedy the hardest-working senator he’d ever met.

“He was a strong ally if you were in agreement but a formidable opponent when he had a different view,” Dole said in a statement.

Kansas’ two current senators, Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts, both Republicans, also praised Kennedy’s passion and bipartisanship.

Another Kansan helped honor Kennedy Wednesday night in front of the senator’s beloved Boston Red Sox. Air Force Staff Sgt. Quincy Garner, a 2000 KU music education graduate, played taps after the national anthem at Fenway Park.

“I’m definitely honored. I don’t think it’s really going to hit me until it’s done and seeing how I contributed,” Garner said in a telephone interview.

The trumpet player grew up in Olathe and is stationed in Massachusetts as a member of the Air Force’s Band of Liberty. Garner still has family living in the Lawrence and Kansas City areas.

Jahanbani, the KU professor who was an education intern for Kennedy from 1996 to 1997, said Kennedy had ties to significant domestic legislation in every decade he served.

“On almost every issue, when it was an question of excluding or including people, he fought vigorously for the basic principles of fairness, equality and inclusion,” she said. “I think that’s an extraordinary legacy.”