Michael Kennedy's final farewell

January 3, 1998
Web posted at: 10:42 a.m. EST (1542 GMT)

CENTERVILLE, Massachusetts (CNN) -- The Kennedy family and their friends on Saturday came to pay their last respects to 39-year-old Michael Kennedy, gathering inside the church where they had witnessed the wedding of Caroline Kennedy in 1986.

Kennedy, son of the late U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy, died New Year's eve in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado.

After a private morning Mass, the young father of three was to be buried at a family plot in Brookline, near his brother David, who died of a drug overdose in 1984. Michael Kennedy was the sixth of Robert and Ethel Kennedy's 11 children, and was married to Victoria Gifford Kennedy, the daughter of sportscaster Frank Gifford.

Outside Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville, security officials handed out lapel pins to relatives and friends so that they could easily get past police lines that separated them from onlookers, including the press.

The Kennedy family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to one of two charities founded by Michael Kennedy: Angola Education Assistance Fund Stop Handgun Violence Both charities can be reached in care of: Citizens Energy, 530 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, MA 02210

About 100 reporters and photographers swarmed outside the church; they were not allowed inside. The Mass was to begin about 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT), and one of the celebrants was to be the Rev. Michael Kennedy, a namesake and parish priest from Dungarvan County, Waterford, Ireland who is a long-time family friend.

Among those expected to attend the service were actress Glenn Close and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is married to Maria Shriver, Kennedy's cousin. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, another good friend of the Kennedys, was to represent President Clinton, who is on vacation in the Virgin Islands.

On Friday, relatives and friends gathered at Ethel Kennedy's Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, home. 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.

Siblings offer their thanks

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," added Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Clinton on Friday telephoned U.S. 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

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 were playing football as they skied.

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

The Kennedy family has vacationed 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.

Once considered a future star in the storied political family, he 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.

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

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

Correspondents Brian Jenkins and Gary Tuchman, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• Kennedys gather to mourn Michael - January 2, 1998
• 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

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• Citizens Energy Corporation

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