And how it forever
changed our lives
PART 2—JULY 16, 2000—POST
SCRIPT
Older brother adds
his memories
on 'Death in the Family'
Letter No. 121 | June 16, 1999
Webmaster's note: My eldest
brother, Tom Kennedy, wrote the following observations after reading
my essay on the tragic death of our brother, Gary, in 1957. I
received his permission to publish his thoughts as a corrective
to my faulty memory. I have, since receiving this, corrected the
reference to victims' bodies being "mangled." The one point I'm
sticking to is that I still think the funeral was on Monday, Labor
Day, and I have subsequently received hard evidence by way of
the Johnstown newspaper of September 3, 1957,
which included the report and obituary. Tom is also right that
we boys gave our Dad a bum rap, always easier to understand in
hindsight. —Jon Kennedy
Dear Jon:
I thought you did a fantastic
job of writing ["A Death in the Family"]. If I may, I would like
to interject some of my memories which in some cases are a little
different than yours. You, for example, stated that recognition
of the bodies was difficult because of the mangling. As I recall,
it was more due to being burned. I always
said it was ironic that Gary had survived being nearly killed
by fire at the age of 4 and then to have his body burned beyond
recognition at 19. I'm quite sure he did not die of burning, however,
because they all must surely have died on impact.
Also you stated that you boys
and Dad were never close but as I remember it, Dad and Gary were
good buddies. They did a lot of work together on the farm and
Dad took him hunting, etc., and Gary seemed to think very highly
of him when he lived with us. I don't think the funeral was actually
on Labor Day, either, because Sally and I had to get there and
I think it was held off just a short time hoping we might hear
from Bob [our other brother]. Bob was on the road in his trucking
job and could not be reached and if I remember correctly he just
happened to stop at the farm a couple hours after the funeral.
I, too, think about that occurrence
frequently and sadly. Gary was a nice boy and we enjoyed having
him with us. I had just cosigned for him to buy that pretty Ford
and when Dad called and told me he was "killed last night," I
was not only shocked at that news but immediately wondered how
that would afffect my signing. Dad immediately told me that the
accident was not in Gary's new car!
Anyway, I agree that that happening
changed us all somewhat. It was the first time I had ever seen
Dad cry and I'll never forget feeling surprise that he could feel
love for one of us to that extent. Let me say parenthetically,
though, that I have come to think in later years that Dad got
somewhat of a bad rap from us boys.... I've thought often about
how he never hesitated to let me get my learner's permit, taught
me how to hunt and always took me anytime I wanted to go. He went
and signed for me to enter the Navy and seemed to understand why
I wanted to go so badly, etc. Besides all that, he certainly deserves
a lot of credit for faithfully going to work in one of the most
dangerous and horrible environments imaginable to support his
family. I could go on but maybe you get my point! Guess I've bent
your “eyes" long enough.
So long,
Brother Tom.
Below
is a partial photocopy of the Tribune-Democrat coverage
of September 3 1957, with a computer-enhanced photo of the wrecked
car from that paper.
Though I remembered it as the
Labor Day edition of the Tribune-Democrat, actually at
that time the T-D did not publish on US Mail holidays.
