Friends and Family Took

By JANNY SCOTT Throughout yesterday, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was surrounded by close friends and family members who gathered at her Fifth Avenue apartment in Manhattan while a crowd of reporters, admirers, tour- ists and passers-by kept a sodden vigil outside the apartment A priest administered the Sacra- ment of the Sick, Roman Catholic ' rites for the seriously ill. Mrs. Onas- sis, the 69-year-old widow of Presi- dent John F. Kennedy, died last night after suffering from an aggressive form of cancer. "There's a lot of love in her room and in her apartment," Representa- tive Joseph P. Kennedy 2d said after visiting his uncle's widow. Mr. Ken- nedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, is the oldest son of former Senator Rob- ert F. Kennedy. rites and given to those close to death. Mrs. Onassis, who married the Outside the Fifth Avenue apart- Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle ment building, between East 85th Onassis in 1968, five years after Pres- Street and East 86th Street, the crowd ident Kennedy was assassinated, re- grew steadily. turned home on Wednesday after They wanted her to die in peace, spending two days at New York Hos- her admirers said. But they came pital-Cornell Medical Center. anyway, for reasons they could not really explain, to stand in the rain, Family at Her Side behind barricades and in the surging Throughout yesterday, family wake of a journalistic sea. members came and went: her chil- Many wanted something — a sliver dren, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg of history, a glimpse of celebrity Oth- and John F. Kennedy Jr.; her sister, ers simply said they had to be there if Lee Radziwill Ross; her former Jackie was about to die. brother-in-law, Senator Edward M. There was a furniture designer Kennedy of Massachusetts and three whose dead lover had idolized her. of his nephews, Congressman Ken- There was the man who remembered nedy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. reading, as a child, that she would be William Kennedy Smith, and his niece moving into that building. Maria Shriver. At one point John Kennedy Jr. Msgr. George Bardes of the Church emerged from the building's service of St. Thomas More, Mrs. Onassis's entrance on 85th Street, accompanied parish church, administered the Sac- by his sister, Caroline, and her hus- rament of the Sick, said Margot Peet, band, Edwin Schlossberg. A mob of a spokeswoman for the church. The reporters and photographers surged sacrament was formerly called last up the street after them, surrounding their car as they tried to leave. Friends Leave Weeping Later, Senator Kennedy arrived with his wife, Victoria, followed short- ly by one of his nephews, William Kennedy Smith. Other friends and relatives left the building weeping. Mrs. Onassis's companion, Maurice Tempelsman, spent the day at her side. Among those drawn to the sidewalk outside Mrs. Onassis' apartment were tourists from Ireland and Bra- zil, lifelong admirers and a woman who promised a miraculous recovery if she could pray for seven hours in the apartment. "I think it's real sad," said Sharon Madson, a tourist from Fargo, N.D. "It just seems this should be a pri- vate time. But obviously, I don't feel Over After the Doctors Could Do No More

radio, he smashed it on The floor. that too much. I'm sitting here gawk- aspiring writer, said she had been ing." there before — sitting on a bench "We were poor. We had worked a Some were blunt about their mo- across the street from the building year to buy that radio," she said. tives. "I just want to see one of the for three hours last summer, hoping "Kennedy was a supporter of democ- Kennedys," said Mike Stevens, a 35- racy. That's why I'm here." "I to see Mrs. Onassis. year-old printer from Manhattan. Barbara Skowronska, a 55-year-old "It's like the end of a dynasty," said Lynne Applebaum, a 33-year-old should have brought my video cam- housekeeper and Polish immigrant, era." recalled Nov. 22, 1963, the day Presi- artist. "She's like a queen. I admire Kennedy Shooting Recalled dent Kennedy was shot in Dallas. She the way she raised her children and kept them out of the public eye. I had was a teacher in Poland, and when Others said they were fans of Mrs. no idea she was that sick. They cov- Onassis. Alexandra Rushfield, 22, an her husband heard the news on the ered it up very well."