The Lord called Charlie home, like a thief in the night. It was too fast, too soon and too much to bear.

Many of us at the paper knew the late State Sen. Charles E. Shannon Jr. as a subject or a source, but some of us knew him as a friend—and that made it hard.

It was hard to see him suffer and it was harder to hear the whispers, the painful, painful whispers from those who should have known better.

Much has already been said about his life dedicated to public service, but nothing we could say speaks louder than the repair of the Lowell Street Bridge which began after a four-year stall in the last week of his life.

During that delay, that name, the Lowell Street Bridge, had come to symbolize our frustration with a state government that ignored our most basic pleadings.

But now we see that the bridge has come to represent something else. We see that even as he took up his final physical challenge, Charlie was still fighting the fight to get the job done.

Why not then take the next step?

When the ribbon is cut to re-open the new bridge, we are calling here and now for the new name to forever capture that spirit of relentless public service: The Charles E. Shannon Jr. Bridge.

In the coming weeks, this space will be devoted to those men and women who are striving to succeed Charlie on Beacon Hill. They may win his seat, but they will never take his place.

And when a candidate approaches us about a possible endorsement, our first question will be: Do you support the naming of the Shannon Bridge?