Kennedys gather to mourn Michael

The flag flies at half-staff outside the Kennedy home

Funeral Mass set for Saturday

January 2, 1998
Web posted at: 6:52 p.m. EST (2352 GMT)

HYANNIS PORT, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Kennedy family and friends gathered Friday afternoon at a wake to remember Michael Kennedy, who died Wednesday in a skiing accident in Colorado.

The private gathering was held at the home of Ethel Kennedy, Michael Kennedy's mother, in the family compound at Hyannis Port. Police kept reporters and photographers at a distance as people arrived to pay their respects at the seaside house.

Cardinal Bernard Law, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, met privately with the family for about 10 minutes before the wake.

"They're very strong, they're very united, they're very supported by one another," he said.

A private funeral Mass is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville. Burial will follow in a family plot in the Boston suburb of Brookline.

Siblings offer their thanks

During the wake, three of Michael Kennedy's siblings came outside to make brief remarks to the assembled reporters.

U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy offered thanks "for the wonderful show of support that so many thousands of people have given to each of us."

"All of us wanted to just say thank you to the people who helped us as a family get through this period," he said.

"This has been a very, very tough and difficult time," said Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. "It's a time of terrible sadness, a sense of awful tragedy."

"People have given so much of their love and care and have said such wonderful things about Michael and how he's touched their lives, made their lives more joyous and happy. And that's what we take with us over these days," she said.

"We just want to thank everybody who has expressed that support for our family," said Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Glickman to represent Clinton at Mass

The White House has announced that Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, a longtime Kennedy family friend, will be President Clinton's official representative at the funeral. Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo, who is married to Michael Kennedy's sister, Kerry, will also attend.

On Friday, Clinton, who is vacationing in the U.S. Virgin Islands, telephoned Sen. Edward Kennedy, Michael Kennedy's uncle. A White House spokesman said it was a private conversation and declined to give any details.

Coroner: No evidence of alcohol, drugs

Kennedy family members walk on the beach Monday morning

Kennedy, 39, the son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, died from severe head and neck trauma after striking a tree at a high rate of speed on an Aspen ski slope Wednesday. He and other members of his party had been playing football at the time, using a snow-packed water bottle.

Tom Walsh, the deputy coroner for Pitkin County, Colorado, said tests performed on Kennedy showed that he was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident.

The Kennedy family had been regularly vacationing in Aspen since at least 1962. The football games on skis were reportedly a long-time family tradition.

Kennedy headed the Citizens Energy Corporation, a nonprofit organization that supplies heating fuel to the poor. He was married to Victoria Gifford Kennedy, the daughter of sportscaster Frank Gifford. The couple had three children.

Once considered a future star in the storied political family, Michael Kennedy became enmeshed in a scandal earlier this year amid accusations that he began a long-term affair with the family baby sitter when she was 14.

Though a sexual relationship with someone that young is a crime in Massachusetts, prosecutors did not pursue the case because the girl, now 19, wouldn't cooperate.

The sixth of Robert and Ethel Kennedy's 11 children, Michael is the second of his generation to die under tragic circumstances. His brother, David, died of a drug overdose in Florida in 1984.

Michael's father was killed by assassin Sirhan Sirhan moments after claiming victory in the 1968 Democratic presidential primary.

Correspondent Brian Jenkins, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• Kennedy's body arrives home in Massachusetts - January 1, 1998
• The new Kennedy generation: Service, ambition, bad behavior - January 1, 1998
• The Kennedys: Legacy of power, glamour and grief - January 1, 1998
• Coroner: Kennedy death accidental - January 1, 1998
• Divorce, Kennedy-style - May 12, 1997

Related site:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

• Citizens Energy Corporation

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

---

 

---

Sound off on our message boards & chat

© 1998 Cable News Network, Inc.
A Time Warner Company
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.