As pallbearers gently lifted the casket from the carriage and entered the Church of the Epiphany, hundreds of mourners followed to bid farewell to Calabrese, whose name had become synonymous with the borough itself.

Speaking on behalf of the family, Gerry Calabrese Jr. urged those in attendance not to shed tears, saying his father would not have wanted that.

“Remember him for what he was,” the younger Calabrese added. “He wasn’t just a good friend, he was a great friend. He wasn’t just a great brother, he was the best brother. He wasn’t just a great father, he was the best father.”

During the Mass, the Rev. Peter Sticco described Calabrese as a man of tremendous follow-through who would not commit to doing something unless he knew he could deliver and as a person to whom people would turn with their problems.

“He had a very good listening ear, and he listened very patiently,” Sticco said.

The Rev. Gerard Graziano, meanwhile, called Calabrese “a legend.”

A bagpipe rendition of “Amazing Grace” was played before the casket was carried out the church and placed back onto the carriage for a final pass by the borough hall that Calabrese helped secure funds for and personally broke ground on years ago.

Waiting outside to see him off was longtime resident Janet Couchon.

“The whole town is in mourning,” she said. “His whole life was this town.”

Linda Shamdosky, a 15-year borough resident who has difficulty walking because of a bad knee, made her way to the church, with the aid of a cane. It was important, she said, to pay tribute to someone who had contributed so much.

“Everyone, even in the [neighboring] towns, knew him,” she said. “He was so much a part of the community.”

Earlier in the day, small crowds gathered outside storefronts along Anderson Avenue, waiting for Calabrese’s casket to pass. Outside the church stood elected officials from throughout Bergen County and beyond. As they waited for the procession to start, they spoke in hushed tones of the man they had come to honor, tossing out phrases like “institution” and “a fighter.”

Among those who attended Friday’s service were two former New Jersey governors, Jim McGreevey and James Florio; Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., who presented Calabrese’s family with an American flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol; and numerous local officials, said Cliffside Park spokesman Bill Maer.

Calabrese, 90, had spent more than half his life – 51 years in all – as mayor of this 1-square-mile town. He was beloved by many who knew him, a man affectionately dubbed the “Godfather” of Cliffside Park.

But his sphere of influence also extended beyond one borough. A political heavyweight within county politics, Calabrese also served three terms as a freeholder in the mid-1970s and several years as the county Democratic chairman in the 1990s.

Calabrese’s health had been in decline over the last two years. He was hospitalized with pneumonia in February 2013 and suffered a minor stroke six months later. He rarely attended council meetings after that, and his son, Thomas Calabrese, the council president, was named acting mayor.

Over the past several days, many have spoken of Calabrese’s longevity in politics.

But as far as Shamdosky was concerned, the mayor – despite spending more than half his life holding elected office – was not the typical career politician.

“I wouldn’t even call him a politician, just a person who cared,” she said. “He did it with sincerity, his whole heart.”

Email: tat@northjersey.com