Onassis Laid to Rest at Arlington Cemetery ■ Services: President Clinton Hails Former First Lady at Rites Alongside Grave of John F

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JACQUELINE KENNEDY ONASSIS: 1929-1994

Onassis Laid to Rest at Arlington Cemetery ■ Services: President Clinton hails former First Lady at rites alongside grave of John F. Kennedy.

By JOHN M. BRODER ter-in-law as both a friend and an and ELIZABETH SHOGREN icon of American history and cul- TIMES STAFF WRITERS ture. "She graced our history," Ken- WASHINGTON—As a sultry nedy said. "And for those of us who spring breeze rippled the eternal knew and loved her, she graced our flame she had lit 31 years ago at lives."'`" another moment of national grief, Mrs. Onassis' body was flown Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was from New York to Washington laid to rest Monday alongside Pres- National Airport aboard a private ident John F. Kennedy at Arling- aircraft. First Lady Hillary Rod- ton National Cemetery. • ham Clinton attended the funeral The former First Lady, who died Mass and flew to Washington with Of cancer last Thursday at 64. was Kennedy family members, where hailed by President Clinton in a she was met by the President. brief graveside service as a woman Mrs. Onassis' children, Caroline who handled great gifts and bore Kennedy Schlossberg and John F. great burdens "with dignity and Kennedy Jr., bade her farewell at grace and uncommon common Arlington with readings from sense." Scripture. They also laid flowers at the foot of her flower-bedecked "We say goodby to Jackie." mahogany coffin. The Most Rev. Clinton said. "May the flame she lit Philip Hannan. the retired arch- so long ago burn ever brighter here bishop of New Orleans who presid- and always brighter in our hearts." ed over President Kennedy's fu- The burial was preceded by a neral, sprinkled holy water on the funeral Mass at the Church of St. coffin and a Navy chorus sang Ignatius Loyola in New York, "Eternal Father Strong to Save." where Sen. Edward M. .Kennedy In a brief 15 minutes, the burial ID-Mass.) paid tribute to his sis- Please see ONASSIS, AS

ReuLers Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg kneels to kiss her and the Most Rev. Philip Hannan look on following mother's coffin as her brother John F. Kennedy Jr. graveside services for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. A8 TUESDAY, MAY 24, 1994 /F

House. Rose Kennedy, the 103-year-old ailing matriarch of the clan, remained in Florida but planned to watch the burial on television, a ONASSIS: Burial family spokesman said. The Kennedy grave site was closed all day Monday but hun- dreds of onlookers lined the route into the cemetery and gathered Rites at Arlington outside its gates. A cemetery spokesman said that 23 other fu- Continued from Al nerals scheduled during the day at service was over and the Kennedy the 612-acre cemetery were going family members drifted away, memory for all these years, forever young and elegant, mysterious and on as planned. some stopping at the nearby grave "Whether she was soothing a of Robert F. Kennedy to pay their private and yet a public treasure for two generations of Americans. nation grieving for a former Presi- respects. dent or raising the children with The nation watched on live tele- Jerry Grasso, 45, a jeweler from the care and the privacy they vision as America buried yet an- Pinellas Park, Fla., brought his deserved or simply being a good other Kennedy. In the hazy dis- video camera to the avenue leading friend, she seemed always to do the tance, the bell of Washington's to Arlington cemetery to watch right thing in the right way," National Cathedral slowly tolled 64 Mrs. Onassis' funeral procession. He said that he remembered the Clinton said. times. And thus ended an era of glam- deaths of President Kennedy and "May the flame she lit so long our and hope and tragedy that his brother, Robert, as marking ago burn ever brighter here and America's "loss of innocence." always brighter in our hearts," the began with the young President's Mrs. Onassis' death, he said, President said. "God bless you, inauguration in 1961 and came to a friend, and farewell." close on Monday on a verdant "marks the end of the Kennedy era. As long as she was still alive, There were more middle-aged hillside in the nation's best-known ' the Kennedy era was still alive." women than any other group along graveyard of heroes. The burial ceremony was at- the route to the cemetery, but the The widow of the President who crowd was mixed. Some tears were was slain on Nov. 22, 1963, became tended by about 100 members of the Kennedy, Auchincloss and shed, but most people were an image etched in the national Radziwill families, including Lee thoughtful, not outwardly emo- Radziwill Ross, Mrs. Onassis' sis- tional. The crowd was hushed as ter. the relatively modest motorcade of Those attending the service black limousines and mini-buses were all family except for a few, passed. • mall crowds gathered around Smourners who carried radios so they could listen to the burial service taking place inside the including Providencia Paredes, the cemetery gate. former First Lady's personal maid in the White House; Paredes' son, Many of those who came to pay their respects praised Mrs. Onassis' Gustavo, who grew up with John Kennedy Jr. and is still a close fashion sense and elan, but more friend, and Maurice Tempelsman, than anything else they remem- Mrs. Kennedy's close companion bered her for the support she provided the whole country during for the last 12 years or so. Buried alongside Kennedy and those tragic November days three decades ago, when she proved to Mrs. Onassis are the couple's first child, an unnamed daughter still- the nation, through her composure born in 1956, and an infant son, and calm, that life would go on. Patrick, who died three days after Person after person remarked on his birth in August, 1963. how the image in 1963 of the young widow's face, dry-eyed and draped he honorary pallbearers were with a black veil, had remained TRobert F. Kennedy Jr., Timo- thy Shriver, Christopher Lawford, William K. Smith, Edward M. Ken- nedy Jr., Anthony Radziwill, Lewis Reuters Rutherford Jr. and Jack Walsh. All but Walsh are cousins. Walsh was Man waves goodby as hearse of a Secret Service agent who Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis en- watched over the Kennedy chil- ters Arlington National Cemetery. dren when they were in the White Reuters, John F. Kennedy Jr. touches gravestone of father at Arlington, where mother is laid to rest. Behind him, sister Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, with Clem through their lives, a symbol of strength and courage. Sally Grieb, 50, of Rochester, N.Y., made a point of coming to Washington with her husband, John, during their vacation to pay their respects. "I always looked up to Jacqueline; I think all women my age did," she said. Laura Frost, 34, of Livermore, Calif., said that Mrs. Onassis pre- served her dignity by not appear- ing on talk shows or writing books. "She was such a graceful, wonder- ful woman. The world will not be the same without her. An era has passed." Mimi Ford, 72, of Alexandria, Va. stood in the shadow cast by a tall hedge lining the road leading to the cemetery gate. "I think Jackie was outstanding. She bore whatever come her way with dignity and with more under- standing than we gave her credit for. She never let her emotions get the better of her," Ford said, choking back tears. Times staff writer Jeff Leeds con- tributed to this story.

The casket of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is fol- Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, son-in-law Edwin lowed at church by, from left, John F, Kennedy Jr., Schlossberg and companion Maurice Tempelsman. Onassis Remembered as a 'Blessing'

By JOHN j. GOLDMAN Johnson, widow of President Lyn- Onassis' favorite poems, "Ithaca" and ROBERT L JACKSON don B. Johnson. She used a cane by the Greek poet Constantine TIMES STAFF WRITERS and held the arm of a Kennedy aide Cavafy. as she moved slowly up the church "But now the journey is over. EW YORK—In the great steps. Too short, alas too short," he marble church of her child- There were Kennedy relatives concluded. "It was filled with ad- Nhood where she was both and cousins and nephews and a venture and wisdom, laughter and baptized and confirmed, Jacqueline Hollywood contingent that includ- love, gallantry and grace. So fare- Kennedy Onassis was remembered ed actress Daryl Hannah, a friend well, farewell." Monday as a "blessing" who "made of John F. Kennedy Jr., and actor In a highly emotional moment, a rare and noble contribution to the Arnold Schwarzenegger and his Metropolitan Opera star Jessye American spirit." wife, Maria Shriver. From the "She was a blessing to us and to Norman sang "Ave Maria." Senate came Daniel Patrick Moy- For all the tributes, it was the the nation . . . ," Sen. Edward M. nihan of New York, Claiborne Pell Kennedy, her brother-in-law, told senior senator from Massachusetts, 1,000 mourners during a moving of Rhode Island and John Kerry of no stranger to sad eulogies, who eulogy, while outside on Park Ave- Massachusetts. perhaps captured Mrs. Onassis nue, solemn crowds stood six deep. From the world of New York best—her political savvy, sense of "No one ever gave more meaning politics came Mayor Rudolph W. hurnor, love for her children and to the title of First Lady. Giuliani and his predecessor David grandchildren, her desire for pri- "Jackie was too young to be a N. Dinkins—and there were people vacy. widow in 1963 and too young to die Mrs. Onassis' life had touched—her "President Kennedy took such now . . . ," the senior senator from decorator, her colleagues from delight in her brilliance and her Massachusetts said, his voice ring- publishing, her boarding school spirit," he told the mourners. "At a ing through the Church of St. roommate. White House dinner, he once Ignatius Loyola. a landmark Italian While the body of Mrs. Onassis leaned over and told the wife of the Renaissance house of worship. lay in a closed mahogany casket, French ambassador: 'Jackie speaks "During those four endless days decorated with ferns topped by a fluent French. But I only under- in 1963. she held us together as a cross of white and purple lilies- of - stand one of every five words she family and a country. In large part the- valley, the people closest to says—and that word is De because of her, we could grieve and the former First Lady—her two Gaulle.— then go on. She lifted us up and in children, John F. Kennedy Jr. and In accordance with Mrs. Onassis' the doubt and darkness she gave Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, wish for privacy, no television her fellow citizens back their pride and her longtime companion Mau- cameras were allowed in the as Americans. She was then 34 rice Tempelsman —celebrated her church. Outside on Park Avenue, a years old." life. crowd of about 4,000 stood behind With prayer and song and tears Caroline Schlossberg told police barricades. and laughter—and more than a mourners that her mother, who Police completely closed several modicum of privacy—final good- died of cancer at the age of 64 on blocks of the normally busy four- bys were said to the woman many Thursday, kept a book on a special lane thoroughfare for the funeral. viewed as an American icon. bookshelf in her room. The vol- While the funeral service was Outside, a man held up a small ume, containing a poem by Edna under way, photographers con- sign, hand lettered with a black St. Vincent Malay, was presented verged on an elderly woman and pen. as a first prize in literature to Mrs. her companion. The woman sat on "Camelot will be reunited in Onassis while she was a student. heaven," it said. a chair in the middle of the side- As she read the Millay poem, walk in front of an apartment The mourners included lined "Memories of Cape Cod," Caroline faces from the New Frontier such building across the street from the Schlossberg's voice cracked with as former Kennedy speech writer church. Theodore Sorenson, White House emotion. Her head was lowered in prayer. aide and historian Arthur Schle- "Choosing the readings for these "I have been praying for her singer Jr., one time Ambassador to services, we struggled to find ones every day." said Elizabeth Mont- India John Kenneth Galbraith, for- that captured my mother's essence. gomery, who gave her age as 94, mer White House Press Secretary Three things came to mind over and who said she had worked as a Pierre Salinger, former National and over again and ultimately maid for the Kennedys many years Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy dictated our selections," John Ken- ago. and former Treasury Secretary C. nedy Jr. told the mourners. "They "Nobody could be nicer than Douglas Dillon. were her love of words, the bonds Jackie," she said. "She was mar- of home and family and her spirit of velous to everybody. She was Li first Lady Hillary Rodham Clin- adventure." beautiful in every way. She was a ' ton attended. So did Lady Bird Tempelsman read one of Mrs. lady to her fingertips." Farewell From the Family The following are from some of the readings at Monday's funeral Mass:

"Choosing the readings for these ■ "She was a blessing to us services, we struggled to find ones that and to the nation—and a captured my mother's essence. Three lesson to the world on how things came to mind over and over to do things right, how to again and ultimately dictated our be a mother, how to selections. They were her love of appreciate history, how to words, the bonds of home and family be courageous." and her spirit of adventure." —Sen. Edward M. Kennedy —John F. Kennedy Jr.

HONORARY PALLBEARERS

Edward Kennedy Jr. (son of ■"The wind in the ash tree sounds like Sen. Edward M. Kennedy) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (son of surf on the shore at Truro. . . The the late Robert F. Kennedy) winds died down. They said leave your Christopher Lawford (son of pebbles on the sand and your shells too Peter and Pat Lawford) Anthony RadzIwill (nephew) and come along. We'll find you another Lewis Rutherford Jr. (nephew) beach like the beach at Truro. Let me Timothy Shriver (son of Sargent and Eunice Shriver) listen to the wind in the ash, it sounds Dr. William Kennedy Smith like surf on the shore." (son of Jean Kennedy Smith) Jack Walsh (Secret Service agent who watched Kennedy —Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, children) reading from a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Memory of Cape Cod."