By FARNOUSH AMIRI, The Associated Press

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — President Joe Biden privately paid his respects Thursday to the mother of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, who died last week in Biden’s hometown of Scranton.

Biden arrived at St. Peter’s Cathedral before visiting hours for Ellen Casey, who also was a former first lady of Pennsylvania. She was 91, and the widow of Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey.

Talking to reporters before and after the flight, Biden said Ellen Casey was an honorable and decent woman. He said he wanted to attend her funeral Friday but had previously been scheduled to meet with the leaders of Japan and South Korea at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

Gov. Robert Casey and his wife, Ellen Casey, during a tour of the Pa. Farm Show in 1995. (PennLive archive)Harrisburg Patriot-News

“I just want to show my respect to the family,” Biden said after arriving in Pennsylvania. He described the “enormous role” Ellen Casey had in his life, saying “her values were amazing.”

He added, “And every time I’d go to Scranton over the years, I’d stop and see her. She was a friend.”

The president’s motorcade drove through the blue-collar town he grew up in, passing motorways and streets named after him. His house was only blocks away from the Casey household. He flew to Camp David after leaving Pennsylvania.