JFK, Jr. - Revised 5/9/07, a true story from 1998 Options

[JLY]

JFK, Jr. & ME

My family met JFK, Jr. on Father’s Day weekend, 1998 in Gettysburg, PA. How we met was most surprising.

My wife Alison, and son Kyle decided to take a mini-vacation during that holiday weekend. Alison’s best friend, Lynn from Colorado, was visiting her sister in Maryland. The women made arrangements for us to get together. Alison, twelve-year-old Kyle, and I drove down to western Maryland just across the Pennsylvania line. We were thinking of what we could do, option 1, go to Baltimore and visit their waterfront area, or option 2, just travel ten miles and go to Gettysburg and visit the Civil War sites. We chose Gettysburg because it was closer and we thought it would be interesting and educational for Kyle.

It was a very hot and humid day so we decided to ride in the comfort of our air-conditioned van and take the auto tour. You can only go in one direction on the tour; all of the roads are one way. We were driving along when we noticed 2 gentlemen walking towards our direction. They appeared to be either lost or in need of some assistance. One of them was looking down to the ground as if he did not want to be seen. We were now adjacent to them and each of us in the van (with the exception of Kyle) recognized that one of them was William Kennedy Smith and then it all clicked for us, the other man was JFK, Jr.

By now they were behind us. I could not turn around because it was one way, so I decided to catch up with them. I had to drive about two miles to get back onto the loop of the tour that they were on. We were driving up a small hill when lo and behold; the two gentlemen were walking along the road as we passed them once again.

I pulled the van over to the side of the road. Now, picture this: I have two wild and crazy women in my car who are acting like they are teenagers; they are saying, “It’s him, it’s him, he’s gorgeous!”

These casually dressed guys now walked past us. Kyle really didn’t know the degree of celebrity status that JFK, Jr. had and Kyle is by nature a very shy boy. We all asked him if he would get out of the van and walk over to the two men and ask them if they needed any help. To our surprise he said yes and exited the van. I watched through the rearview mirror and gave a play-by-play report.
“Kyle is now talking to John; John is putting his arm around Kyle’s shoulder; Kyle, John, and William are coming this way”

At that instant Alison jumped out of the van and opened the rear door. We all asked John if he needed help. He said that he was separated from his tour bus and could we be kind enough to give him a ride. We, of course said yes. They got into the van and sat in the very rear seat. We all introduced ourselves and then it was John’s turn. He stated, “Hi, I am John and this is my cousin Will.” No last names, because he knew that we knew that he was JFK, Jr.

We exchanged small talk; asked him what he was doing in Gettysburg; he asked us the same; I made an innocent comical statement…”Is spending a day in the heat and humidity of Gettysburg all it’s cracked up to be?”; he responded with a witty answer... “It certainly beats the annoying crowds I have to deal with in the city.”

The trip lasted about ten minutes and he was exactly as everyone said he was: charming, personable, witty, and very much down to earth. He was genuine and had no false airs about him. We caught up with the bus and we let John and Will out. At this time a young lady came up to my side of the car; I rolled down the window to speak with her. It was Caroline Kennedy. She thanked us for being so nice and courteous to give “her brother” a ride. We said our goodbyes.

The punch line is that none of us had a camera to record the event nor did we have a pen to get an autograph. But in a sense that is how it should have been because we did not make John feel besieged or threatened. The time that he spent with my family was as relaxing for him as it could have been. He smiled and he appeared as though he was enjoying the brief ride with our group.

For a moment a sense of sadness overcame all of us. It was because we understood what JFK, Jr had to endure when he was in the public eye. As soon as he stepped out of our van, several tourists ran up to him and began badgering him and William for photos and autographs. As we pulled away we once again saw John with his head down as if he was trying to hide himself from the public eye.

<font color='#0000FF'>Author's note:  This may not measure up to what a short story should be, I simply wrote this as it happened and thought it would be something of interest for my MM friends to read.



My family met JFK, Jr. on Father’s Day weekend, 1998 in Gettysburg, PA.  How we met is a very interesting, once in a lifetime experience.  

My wife, Alison’ and son Kyle decided to take a mini vacation during Father’s Day weekend.  Alison’s best friend, Lynn from Colorado was visiting her sister in Maryland.  These two women made arrangements for us to get together for the weekend.  Alison, Kyle (age 12 at the time), and I drove down to western Maryland just across the PA line.  We were thinking of what we could do---option 1, go to Baltimore and visit their waterfront area or option 2, just travel 10 miles and go to Gettysburg and visit the Civil War sites.  We chose Gettysburg because it was closer and we thought it would be interesting and educational for Kyle.

It happened to be a very hot and humid day so we decided to ride in the comfort of our air conditioned van and take the car tour.  On the car tour, you can only go in one direction—all of the roads are one way.  We were driving along when we noticed 2 gentlemen walking towards our direction.  They appeared as though they were either lost or they needed some assistance.  One of them was looking down to the ground as if he did not want to be seen.  We were now almost adjacent to them and each of us in the van (with the exception of Kyle) recognized that one of them was William Kennedy Smith and then it all clicked for us, the other man was JFK, Jr.

Now at this time they had walked past us and were now behind us.  I could not turn around because it was one way, I decided to catch up with them. I had to drive about 2 miles to get back onto the loop of the tour that we were on.  We were driving up a small hill when low and behold the two gentlemen were coming right at us.

I pulled the van over to the side of the road.  Now picture this, I have two wild and crazy women in my car who are acting like they are teenagers.  They are saying, “It’s him, it’s him, he gorgeous, etc. etc.”  

These casually dressed guys now walked past us. Kyle really doesn’t know the degree of celebrity status that JFK, Jr. has and Kyle is by nature a very shy boy. We all asked Kyle if he would get out of the van and walk over to the 2 men and ask them if they needed any help.  To our surprise Kyle said yes and jumped out of the van.  I watched through the rearview mirror and gave a play by play report.  
“Kyle is now talking to John; John is putting his arm around Kyle’s shoulder; Kyle, John, and William are coming this way”

At that instance, Alison jumped out of the van and opened the rear door.  We all asked John if he needed help.  He stated that he was separated from his tour bus and could we be kind enough to give him a ride.  We of course said yes. They got into the van and proceeded to sit in the very rear seat.  We all introduced ourselves and then it was John’s turn.  He stated, “Hi, I am John and this is my cousin Will.”  No last names, because he knew that we knew that he was JFK, Jr.  

We exchanged small talk; asked him what he was doing in Gettysburg; he asked us the same; I made an innocent comical statement; he responded with a witty answer.  

The trip lasted about 10 minutes and he was exactly as everyone said he was: charming, personable, witty, and very much down to earth—no false airs about him.  We caught up with the bus and we let John and Will out.  At this time a young lady comes up to my side of the car—I rolled down the window to speak with her—it was Caroline Kennedy.  She proceeded to thank us for being so nice and giving “her brother” a ride.  We said our goodbyes.

The punch line is that none of us had a camera to record the event nor did we have a pen to get an autograph.  But in a sense that is how it should have been because we did not make John feel besieged or threatened.  The time that he spent with my family was as relaxing for him as it could have been.  He smiled and he appeared as though he was enjoying the ride in our van.

For a moment a sense of sadness overcame all of us in the van.  It was because we understood what JFK, Jr had to endure when he was in the public eye.  As soon as he walked out of our van, several tourists ran up to him and began badgering him and William for photos and autographs.  As we pulled away in our van we once again saw John with his head down as if he was trying to hide himself from the public eye.</font>