DLevine2
07-12-2009, 12:31 PM
Ten years ago this week, as people across the country mourned the latest loss in a revered political family, Greenwich was dealt a triple blow.
Only a few short years before, John F. Kennedy Jr.'s marriage to Greenwich girl Carolyn Bessette had fascinated the world. Now town residents' remembrances of their popular, beautiful friend and classmate were tinged with tragedy.
On the hazy night of July 16, 1999, Kennedy was flying with his 33-year-old wife and her older sister Lauren Bessette in his new single-engine Piper Saratoga plane up to Martha's Vineyard, Mass., when it crashed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Kennedy had planned to drop his sister-in-law off in Martha's Vineyard, and then continue on to Hyannis Port, Mass., to attend the wedding of his cousin Rory.
Current and former town residents recalled the shock that was felt, as well as the media circus that ensued.
One morning soon after, Robert Cardini had been planning to meet up with a friend to play golf in nearby Brewster, N.Y., when he heard that his former classmate had likely perished at sea. Cardini had attended what was then called Central Junior High School with Carolyn Bessette, before she went on to graduate from the old St. Mary High School, now Greenwich Catholic School, in 1983. Later that day, Cardini, now 44 and living in Stamford, left a bouquet of flowers at St. Michael Church, which shares a campus with the North Street school.
"Every day I drive by that church,"
said Cardini, operations manager for the Ceci Brothers landscaping company in Greenwich. "I pretty much routinely throughout the years have always thought about it."
The Bessette sisters' mother and stepfather, Ann Marie and Richard Freeman, asked for privacy as reporters flocked to their Old Greenwich home in the days following the crash. They continue to prefer not to talk about their daughters, declining a request for an interview for this story.
Grant Stinchfield, a family friend and TV reporter who at the time acted as a spokesman for the family, also declined to comment out of respect for the family.
The girls, who grew up in town and were only 18 months apart in age, were well-liked by their classmates at Central Junior High. Lauren, who had a twin sister, Lisa, graduated from Greenwich High School in 1982. After studying economics, political science and psychology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y., she embarked on a career as a financial analyst for what was then called Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.
Before her romance with the man once dubbed the "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine, Carolyn Bessette majored in elementary education at Boston University, then moved to New York City to work as a public relations associate with Calvin Klein.
Less than a week after the plane went down, Kennedy's and the sisters' remains were scattered at sea not far from the crash site. A couple of days later, Christ Church Greenwich drew many from the Kennedy clan for an invitation-only memorial service for the Bessette sisters.
Hugh Tudor-Foley, at the time the assistant to the rector at Christ Church Greenwich, recalls meeting with the girls' mother.
"They knew there would be a separate service in the city for John Jr.," remembers Tudor-Foley, 68, now interim rector at Church of the Good Shepherd in Hemet, Calif. "They wanted this to be one where the girls were remembered, where it would be a dignified service."
The members of the news media, who spent hours around the church waiting for glimpses of members of the Kennedy family -- including John Jr.'s uncle, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, sister Caroline and several cousins -- among the 500 mourners, presented a challenge, recalls Jeffrey Walker, the parish's former pastor.
"One reporter showed up at the rectory, where I lived, at around 7 in the morning," Walker recalled in an e-mail. "They parked their trucks, between nine and 13 of them, in our backyard.
"One day, my wife had to put me onto the floor of her car, and drive me across the street to the church so that I could get there without being asked questions I couldn't answer. It was bizarre, and not the kind of thing one is trained for at seminary."
The grief was shared among the town's residents. Tom Ragland, first selectman at the time, remembers most people were devastated.
"Here is a wonderful, beautiful young couple that all of a sudden disappears from the earth," said Ragland, 74, whose wife had known the Bessettes' mother. "That was a shock to everyone."
Many wondered why Kennedy, who didn't have a lot of flying experience, chose to take such a difficult trip.
"We go to Nantucket a lot, and I know the weather up there can kind of turn in five minutes," Ragland said. "We all walked around numb for several days thinking, 'Why did that happen?'"
Only a few short years before, John F. Kennedy Jr.'s marriage to Greenwich girl Carolyn Bessette had fascinated the world. Now town residents' remembrances of their popular, beautiful friend and classmate were tinged with tragedy.
On the hazy night of July 16, 1999, Kennedy was flying with his 33-year-old wife and her older sister Lauren Bessette in his new single-engine Piper Saratoga plane up to Martha's Vineyard, Mass., when it crashed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Kennedy had planned to drop his sister-in-law off in Martha's Vineyard, and then continue on to Hyannis Port, Mass., to attend the wedding of his cousin Rory.
Current and former town residents recalled the shock that was felt, as well as the media circus that ensued.
One morning soon after, Robert Cardini had been planning to meet up with a friend to play golf in nearby Brewster, N.Y., when he heard that his former classmate had likely perished at sea. Cardini had attended what was then called Central Junior High School with Carolyn Bessette, before she went on to graduate from the old St. Mary High School, now Greenwich Catholic School, in 1983. Later that day, Cardini, now 44 and living in Stamford, left a bouquet of flowers at St. Michael Church, which shares a campus with the North Street school.
"Every day I drive by that church,"
said Cardini, operations manager for the Ceci Brothers landscaping company in Greenwich. "I pretty much routinely throughout the years have always thought about it."
The Bessette sisters' mother and stepfather, Ann Marie and Richard Freeman, asked for privacy as reporters flocked to their Old Greenwich home in the days following the crash. They continue to prefer not to talk about their daughters, declining a request for an interview for this story.
Grant Stinchfield, a family friend and TV reporter who at the time acted as a spokesman for the family, also declined to comment out of respect for the family.
The girls, who grew up in town and were only 18 months apart in age, were well-liked by their classmates at Central Junior High. Lauren, who had a twin sister, Lisa, graduated from Greenwich High School in 1982. After studying economics, political science and psychology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y., she embarked on a career as a financial analyst for what was then called Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.
Before her romance with the man once dubbed the "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine, Carolyn Bessette majored in elementary education at Boston University, then moved to New York City to work as a public relations associate with Calvin Klein.
Less than a week after the plane went down, Kennedy's and the sisters' remains were scattered at sea not far from the crash site. A couple of days later, Christ Church Greenwich drew many from the Kennedy clan for an invitation-only memorial service for the Bessette sisters.
Hugh Tudor-Foley, at the time the assistant to the rector at Christ Church Greenwich, recalls meeting with the girls' mother.
"They knew there would be a separate service in the city for John Jr.," remembers Tudor-Foley, 68, now interim rector at Church of the Good Shepherd in Hemet, Calif. "They wanted this to be one where the girls were remembered, where it would be a dignified service."
The members of the news media, who spent hours around the church waiting for glimpses of members of the Kennedy family -- including John Jr.'s uncle, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, sister Caroline and several cousins -- among the 500 mourners, presented a challenge, recalls Jeffrey Walker, the parish's former pastor.
"One reporter showed up at the rectory, where I lived, at around 7 in the morning," Walker recalled in an e-mail. "They parked their trucks, between nine and 13 of them, in our backyard.
"One day, my wife had to put me onto the floor of her car, and drive me across the street to the church so that I could get there without being asked questions I couldn't answer. It was bizarre, and not the kind of thing one is trained for at seminary."
The grief was shared among the town's residents. Tom Ragland, first selectman at the time, remembers most people were devastated.
"Here is a wonderful, beautiful young couple that all of a sudden disappears from the earth," said Ragland, 74, whose wife had known the Bessettes' mother. "That was a shock to everyone."
Many wondered why Kennedy, who didn't have a lot of flying experience, chose to take such a difficult trip.
"We go to Nantucket a lot, and I know the weather up there can kind of turn in five minutes," Ragland said. "We all walked around numb for several days thinking, 'Why did that happen?'"