Family Bids Farewell to JFK Jr.
By LESLIE MILLER, AP
FALMOUTH, Mass. (AP), Family members watched mournfully from the deck of a Navy
destroyer Thursday as a brass quintet played a hymn and the ashes of John F. Kennedy Jr.,
his wife and her sister were cast into the sea, consigned to the depths where they
died. A flag was lowered to half-mast as about 15 mourners, some wearing black and
flanked by sailors in dress whites, gathered on the stern of the USS Briscoe. The dead
were returned to the sea along with three wreaths two miles from the spot where Kennedy's
plane crashed last Friday night.
``It was very simple, but very solemn,'' said the Rev. Louis Iasiello, a Navy
chaplain who assisted the Rev. Charles O'Byrne in the ceremony.
O'Byrne presided at JFK Jr.'s wedding nearly three years ago, and was to preside
over the private family memorial Mass at Church of St. Thomas More in New York on Friday
morning.
``The sun was out, it was a beautiful day,'' Iasiello said. ``Everything was
very quiet and tranquil and peaceful ... It added to the solemnity of the moment.''
Six members of the clergy sat at the rear of the ship, taking turns at a podium
reading scripture and prayers. About 300 members of the crew stood by silently.
The destroyer spent about half an hour nearly motionless in the hazy sunshine
off Martha's Vineyard for the service, led by Kennedy's sister, Caroline, and
mother-in-law. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and JFK Jr.'s cousins William Kennedy Smith and
Maria Shriver were also there.
At least two people appeared to rise and speak. A Navy honor guard also was on
hand to fire a rifle volley for the two women and the young man who at age 3 raised a
famous salute to the casket of his assassinated father. Flags were presented to the
families. A brass quintet from the Newport Navy Band played ``Eternal Father,'' a
Navy hymn, when the ashes were committed to the sea, Iasiello said. The quintet also
played ``Abide With Me'' and ``For All the Saints.''
Prayers and scriptures were read from the Book of Wisdom, including the passage:
``The souls of the just are in the hands of God, and no torment shall touch them.''
The ceremony, held the morning after the bodies were brought up from the ocean
floor, provided a quick ending to the six-day national vigil that began when Kennedy's
plane vanished. The service was conducted in private, about five miles off Martha's
Vineyard, amid orders that planes keep five miles away. Boats were allowed no closer
than a mile.
JFK Jr., who died on the way to his cousin's wedding, was laid to rest on his
grandmother Rose's birthday. He was returned to the waters where he enjoyed sailing,
kayaking and swimming. The Roman Catholic Church allows cremation, though burial is
still the preferred practice. U.S. bishops forbid the scattering of ashes at sea; an urn
containing the full set of remains must be placed into the water.
Iasiello would not say what practice was followed for JFK Jr., 38, Carolyn
Bessette Kennedy, 33, and her sister Lauren Bessette, 34.
Other memorials were to follow. About 1,000 people crowded into a Catholic
church in New York's Little Italy neighborhood Thursday night for a public memorial
organized by the city's Irish community. Bagpipe music played and mourners sang hymns and
listened to scripture read in Gaelic. Another 3,000 people waited outside.
The private Mass to be held Friday was to be attended by President Clinton and
Hillary Rodham Clinton. A family source said Sen. Kennedy would deliver a eulogy.
The Pentagon also planned an observance Friday aboard the aircraft carrier USS
John F. Kennedy. A private memorial for Lauren Bessette is planned at an Episcopal church
in Greenwich, Conn., on Saturday.
On Thursday, hundreds gathered on Cape Cod near the Woods Hole harbor to catch a
glimpse of the mourners boarding the Coast Guard boat that took them to the Briscoe.
The Kennedy family drove past hundreds of well-wishers, including children who
threw wildflowers on the motorcade. Some of those who lined the main road carried signs of
sympathy. ``Our prayers are with you all,'' read a sign held by Glen Rogers of
Falmouth, who brought his two children to watch the motorcade pass. The sign, drawn with
blue marker, also depicted a cross and an angel.
Defense Secretary William Cohen said he personally approved requests by Sen.
Kennedy and the Bessette family for the use of the Briscoe, which had been conducting
training operations off Virginia.
Kennedy was piloting his single-engine Piper Saratoga from New Jersey on Friday
night when it dropped from radar 16 miles from Martha's Vineyard Airport. Flight data
showed the plane dropped precipitously after Kennedy took a right turn away from the
Vineyard, and aviation experts said he may have been disoriented. The medical
examiner determined all three died instantly.
The wreckage, including a section of fuselage with the instrument panel, will be
examined in Cape Cod. It will be six to nine months before the accident's cause is
determined, said James Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.
On Gay Head Beach, overlooking the spot where the wreckage was found, residents erected a
4-foot cross made of driftwood and lashed together with wild grapevines. The names
John-John, Carolyn and Lauren were etched into each arm of the cross.
Heather Rynd, 52, who helped make the cross, said: ``JFK Jr. stands for
something I carry in my heart politically, emotionally and spiritually.''
