Bessette Sisters Remembered at Memorial in Home Town

Friends and family members gathered Saturday to bid a final, heartfelt farewell to Lauren Bessette and her sister Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, who perished with John F. Kennedy Jr. in a plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean.

In the week since the accident, there have been countless eulogies for the 38-year-old son of Camelot, the husband of Carolyn.

But tributes to the Bessettes have seemed glancing, the sisters remembered not so much for how they lived their lives as for what they became in death: figures in another Kennedy tragedy.

Not in Greenwich, the affluent shoreline town where the Bessettes grew up. Outside Christ Church, where a private memorial service took place Saturday night, hundreds of people gathered to show support for the family, leaving bouquets and handwritten notes.

They spoke of two remarkable daughters, two promise-filled futures. And the sorrow of parents who outlive their children.

“They were beautiful people,” said Idoline Kearns of Larchmont, N.Y., who arrived midafternoon with her husband, Richard. “We feel we have an obligation to sit here, three or four hours. We’re here for both families.”

Significantly, the candlelight service was held in the name of 34-year-old Lauren--the crash victim the world knew least--although prayers were also to be offered for Carolyn and John Kennedy.

Numerous members of the Kennedy clan attended, including John’s sister, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg; his uncle Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.); and aunts Ethel Kennedy and Jean Kennedy Smith. Several Kennedy cousins attended, including Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Douglas Kennedy, Max Kennedy, Maria Shriver and Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, as well as Rory Kennedy and her fiance, Mark Bailey, whose wedding was canceled by the tragedy.

Lauren Bessette, an investment banker, rose rapidly in the world of international finance and worked for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in New York for eight years. She specialized in Asian investments and was based in Hong Kong until about a year ago.

The remains of all three crash victims were cremated and the ashes were scattered at sea in a stately ceremony aboard a Navy destroyer with a folded U.S. flag.

More than 400 guests were invited to the ecumenical service Saturday, arriving in limousines, many wearing black glasses and dressed in black.

Ann Freeman, the Bessette sisters’ mother, and Dr. Richard Freeman, their stepfather, arrived early, along with Lauren’s twin, Lisa Ann. The parents attended a separate service for Kennedy and his 33-year-old wife in New York on Friday.

“Devastating,” said Chuck Morrell, the chief sexton of Christ Church. “Two daughters who were living life to the full. No parent should have to bear such a loss.”

Beneath the arched red doors, a scribbled card lay beside a bouquet of carnations. It read: “John, Carolyn and Lauren, our thoughts and prayers are with you.”