NEW YORK — To the accompaniment of gospel and reggae music, and to the words of Shakespeare and Irish bards, family and friends bade a final farewell Friday to John F. Kennedy Jr., remembered by his uncle as a young man of wit and grace who, like his father, "had every gift but length of years."
Continuing a sad tradition that has seen him take charge through decades of family tragedy, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) delivered a eulogy at a private memorial Mass for his 38-year-old nephew and for 33-year-old Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Jr.'s bride of three years. President Clinton, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton were among 315 mourners at St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church, where John's sister, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, is a parishioner and where their mother, the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, often worshiped.
From the first day of his life, Sen. Kennedy told the mourners, the son of President Kennedy was a public figure.
"He had a legacy, and he learned to treasure it. He was part of a legend, and he learned to live with it," the senator said in remarks made public by his office.
The sense that John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife were almost personal acquaintances brought hundreds of people to the streets near the church.
The affair was intensely private yet was covered in minute detail by television cameras lurking a block away, satisfying the decades-old public fascination with the Kennedy clan.
"I'm here to pay my respects to a young man I have known since he was born," said Patti Avallone, who acknowledged she had never met Kennedy. Avallone, a middle school principal from West Haven, Conn., took a funeral day off from work and rode the train 90 miles to stand on a scorching Park Avenue sidewalk. "I felt I would be closer to the families if I was here."
John and Carolyn Kennedy and her 34-year-old sister Lauren Bessette were killed one week ago when the small plane Kennedy was piloting crashed into the sea near Martha's Vineyard. Their ashes were scattered at sea Thursday. A service will be held today for Lauren Bessette in the family's hometown of Greenwich, Conn.
Mourners Among Elite of Politics, Journalism
Friday's service drew political leaders as well as leaders from John Kennedy's own line of endeavor, journalism. Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) were present, as were newswomen Diane Sawyer (with her husband, writer-director Mike Nichols) and Christiane Amanpour (with her husband, State Department spokesman James Rubin). Rolling Stone Publisher Jann Wenner also was among the mourners.
