If you're looking at the live shot of the main house at Hyannis Port

[dem629]

did anyone else see those dolphins in the water just behind the house?

The entire scene is so peaceful.

It's going to be emotional watching them put the casket in the hearse just outside the house.

[Dennis Donovan]

1. I wonder if the house will be officially turned over to the Park Service...

...to be opened as a National Historic Site? I'll be the 1st in line when they do. I LOVE going to FDR & TR's homes and to have access to the Kennedy Compound would be awesome!

[calimary]

4. Truly! I'd love that, myself. It's a very distinguished part of American history.

Really wonderful picture of that family, way back when. And they're all gone now. They really were "American Royalty." And the last surviving Grand Duke is now gone.

I always think of the motto on Prince Charles's pinkie ring - it's Latin for "I Serve." That was always the highest ideal of the well-positioned (presuming they gave a damn about anything beyond themselves and their own bank accounts). For everything that might have been eyebrow-raising about what Joe Kennedy Sr did or who any of them hung with, they STILL had a deeply-instilled sense of obligation. Noblesse oblige. Much blessed, much obligated. When you're THAT privileged and THAT blessed and THAT fortunate, you have a responsibility to give back to the country and community that provided the fertile fields in which you were able to grow your fortune. So you need to recognize that as YOUR debt to society for everything it's given you. And they did. They taught that to their kids, and their kids turned around and taught it to their own kids.

THAT, I think, is why you always hear about the Kennedys as "America's Royal Family" - and you NEVER EVER hear that about the bushes. NEVER. Public "service" to them always meant how, where, when, and what they might be able to do to exploit the surrounding conditions to serve themselves and their own financial and power-accumulating interests. What they did benefited themselves and their cronies. What the Kennedys did or tried to do benefited everyone, especially those less fortunate.

THAT is true nobility.

[Dennis Donovan]

6. Mary, your response should be a post of its own...

:thumbsup:

[calico1]

7. Jean Kennedy Smith still lives.

She is the youngest daughter and second youngest child.

[Dennis Donovan]

8. As the youngest in MY family...

...I can empathize with Jean about being the last one, although, as a running joke, I've told my older siblings that I'll be waltzing on their graves...;-)

[SoCalDem]

13. Jean probably never thought she'd be the last one

I posted this the other night,.lots of great old family pics..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6392244

[calico1]

16. I am one of 5...the middle child and I sometimes

wonder which one of us will be the last one to die. I know it sounds morbid but I guess most people who grow up in a large family must think that once in a while. I feel so bad for Jean. She has lost 2 siblings within a month. Her entire immediate family is gone and she is the only one left. What a strange and sad feeling that must be.

[SoCalDem]

17. We have 3 sons, and when they ran through the house hurling insults at each other

I would sit them down, and say to them:

"Someday, you three will be all that's left of this family, so don't say or do anything NOW, that will make it hard for you to be grown-up buddies"..

And as adults, they are all close (even though not geographically)

[calimary]

18. Thanks! I've been trying to think who might be left from that generation.

I thought he was the last survivor. Eunice just died. And I think Pat Lawford is long gone, too (2006).

[maxpower]

5. I heard that was what Teddy wanted

Last night on Keith they mentioned that.

[Dennis Donovan]

10. I've viewed the compound from Nantucket Sound...

...and from the end of Marchant Street, but I've ALWAYS wanted to see the Compund from the INSIDE!;-)

[maxpower]

12. You and me both

I hope it becomes so.

[SoCalDem]

14. It's probably the best thing to do anyway. There are just TOO MANY

heirs.

Too many to try to divide or share that place.. Better to make it a gift to the community, instead of seeing future generations squabble over it..

[redqueen]

9. I hope so.

Also, I can't look at that pic in your sig without getting emotional. :cry:

[Dennis Donovan]

11. Me too...

:cry:

The most important Democratic era of the 20th Century has drawn to a close...:(

[polichick]

2. As a fellow sea-lover, I'm so glad he got to spend his last days at home...

What a beautiful place!

[malaise]

3. I remember watching my father's coffin being placed

in the hearse and thinking that he was leaving his home for the last time, heading for his last ride and never coming back. It's a very strange feeling.


I feel for his family - he was father to so many.

[Parche]

15. too powerful

:cry::cry: :cry: :patriot: