Home Sweet Kennedy Home

27 July 2001, Friday: "Miss," I asked, "I'm just curious. Could you tell me where the juniper tree is?"

"What juniper tree?" said our tour guide.

"The one that President Kennedy planted in the front yard back in June of 1963, just five months before he was assassinated. Last time I was here I saw it – the Irish juniper tree. He never came back. He never got to see it grow."

I searched the newspapers displayed as artifacts behind glass in the historical interpretative display. "See? Here's the story," I said, pointing to an article.

"I never heard of it," she said, "but I'll go back in the house and ask."

My daughter Diana and I were at the Kennedy Homestead Visitor Center in the little village of Dunganstown, site of the Kennedy ancestral home in southeast Ireland. It was operated then (and still is) by the Ryans, direct descendants of the Kennedys. Two new buildings were dedicated to explaining JFK's Irish heritage with audio-visuals of his historic visit to Ireland, recorded speeches, dozens of newspapers and, of course, a souvenir shop.

It was very different just seven years ago when my wife Anne and I paid a visit – her first, my second …

Access then was by an unmarked winding, one-lane country road about three miles off Highway R733, not far from New Ross, a town of some 8,000 people. The road was so narrow I had to back up several hundred feet to allow a huge farm combine go by. A small, one-room outbuilding stood by the roadside, which bore a plaque that read: "Birthplace of Patrick Kennedy, great grandfather of President John F. Kennedy, U.S.A. who returned to his ancestral home on 27th June, 1963." Inside was wall-to-wall JFK memorabilia.

We were alone in that quiet little white shrine. Photographs of the slain President and Bobby and Ted and Martin Luther King stared out from the walls. The building was small, about ten feet square, lit only by light of the gray Irish sky streaming through the window. A framed family tree hung on the wall over the guest book signed by travelers like us from all over the world: Portugal, France – even Argentina. Somehow, each one of us had made the pilgrimage down this dusty little back road to leave our mark near John F. Kennedy’s roots. As we signed it today, I found my signature from 24 August 1992.

JFK made this same pilgrimage in the summer before his death; 115 years after his great-grandfather, Patrick Kennedy, had left the house in Dunganstown and walked down that same narrow country road to New Ross, there to begin his journey to America and the life of a cooper in East Boston.

Now his great-grandson, John F. Kennedy, had returned to that same farm as President of the United States. On 27 June 1963, JFK dined on cold salmon, brown wheat bread, a cup of tea, first in the farmyard with hundreds of others, then in the house in front of a bright turf fire with third cousin Mary Kennedy Ryan and several other cousins. Mrs. Ryan, a direct descendant of Patrick Kennedy, was the family matriarch and owner of the homestead. The original family house was destroyed years before, but most of the other old outbuildings were and are still there.

Before he left, JFK planted a juniper tree in the garden "so we'll have something to remind us of this day in the years to come." Later, he was given the keys to nearby New Ross and several other cities. He made speeches and led parades, and parks were named after him. The people revered John F. Kennedy and even today, he remains iconic in Ireland, where many people grew up with two photos in their living room: one of the pope and the other of JFK.

Which of us who remembers the shock and sadness beyond mourning of that fearful day in 1963 can forget the sound of those muffled drums at his funeral march? I was only twenty-five when he was assassinated and will never forget it as long as I live …

"Sir?"

The guide broke me out of my reverie.

"Yes," I said.

"Another guide called one of the family members. The tree died but two years ago and had to be removed. I'm sorry."

I looked at my daughter. "Sorry, Diana, we're just a little late. But time moves on, and so should we." So move on we did, with new memories stashed in our boxes of memories, to be taken out now and then to be reminisced over like old family photos.

The summer of 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of JFK's visit to Ireland. On June 22nd, huge crowds, including Kennedy's daughter Caroline, grandson Jack, and sister Jean all turned out for the celebration at Dunganstown. At nearby New Ross the eternal flame was lit. It was taken from Kennedy's grave at Arlington National Cemetery and carried via Olympic-style torch by plane, boat and several members of Ireland's Special Olympics team. It was the first time the Kennedy eternal flame had been passed along in this fashion. The event was the latest in a year of Kennedy 50th-anniversary events, which will culminate with the unveiling of a new memorial in Dallas on Nov. 22nd. Ironically, JFK was assassinated 105 years to the day that his great-grandfather Patrick succumbed to cholera in Boston.

Both Kennedy and the juniper tree he planted are gone but the eternal flame still burns – in two countries.

Author Patrick Simpson and his wheelchair-restricted wife Anne uncover their experiences exploring historical and cultural experiences around the world. Visit now to learn how independent travel for disabled persons is not only possible, it can be fun!! www.booksbypatricksimpson.com

LINKS:
Kennedy Homestead Visitor Center
"A CUP OF TEA TO ALL THE KENNEDYS WHO WENT"
New memorial in Dallas