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    • Ethel Kennedy’s children gather in Hyannisport. This also applies to the curious
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    Ethel Kennedy’s children gather in Hyannisport. This also applies to the curious

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

    HYANNISPORT — On a particularly beautiful October afternoon, a police officer sat in a patrol car on Marchant Avenue, his lights flashing. An American flag was lowered to half-staff on the private road leading to the Kennedy compound.

    That was fitting, since the latest in a line of Kennedys had died hours earlier. Ethel Kennedy, 96, wife of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, died Thursday, a week after suffering a stroke. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 while running for president.

    The private street signs, police presence and a security guard couldn’t stop the few cars that tried to get a glimpse of the site. Ethel Kennedy, her family, and the extended Kennedy family have captured the nation’s attention for decades. Some people were curious. Some had heard the news of Ethel Kennedy’s death and wanted to pay their respects.

    “The Kennedy Mystique”

    Susan Montemayor was one of them.

    “I saw the documentary about Ethel,” Montemayor said. “She was a very interesting woman. That’s the Kennedy mystique.”

    She and her husband Leo had come to the Cape from Chicago for a fall trip. Her father was the Democratic district captain in Chicago at the time. When she was two years old, she met President John F. Kennedy at an airport. She wanted to take a photo.

    Near the site, pink roses on rosebushes of a well-tended house were still colorful, but their scent was faint. Grass rustled in the light wind. A few hundred feet away, another American flag flew at half-mast. The blue of Hyannis Harbor lay in the distance. A blue and white boat rocked in the water.

    The water has always been a respite for the Kennedy family.

    A sail on Thursday

    This day was no different. Two of Ethel’s children, Max Kennedy and Rory Kennedy, took a sailboat into Hyannis Harbor that afternoon.

    A few cars snaked down Dale Avenue but were directed to continue past Marchant Avenue. An Amazon delivery driver was allowed through. So did a woman who brought groceries.

    A woman walked by. She had not heard the news of Ethel Kennedy’s death. “It’s part of life,” she said.

    Jaime Hughes and another woman stood at a split fence looking down Marchant Avenue. The West Barnstable resident said she has read a few books about Ethel Kennedy.

    “I think she did a lot of great things,” Hughes said.

    Denise Coffey writes about business, tourism and issues affecting Cape residents and visitors. Contact them at [email protected] .

    Thank you to our subscribers who help make this reporting possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription.You can find our subscriptions here.

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    Madoc Meredith
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