JFK's Final Days: November 10, 1963
November 10, 1963 (50 years ago) was a Sunday and that meant that President John F. Kennedy and his family went to mass. They were spending the weekend at a home they owned called Wexford in Atoka, Virginia. Kennedy took his family to a church in nearby Middleburg. In his recent book entitled JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President, author Thurston Clarke tells us about the outing at page 287:
The family attended Sunday mass at St. Stephen the Martyr Church in Middleburg and heard Father Albert Pereira preach a homily about Christian death and the high cost of elaborate funerals. In a nod to the President, he said "The Saints today are the peacemakers." The church had opened in April and was purpose-built for the First Family with a soundproof and bullet-proof usher's room where the President could take calls. Pereira was one of the few clergymen with whom Kennedy felt comfortable discussing Catholic dogma and his faith (another was Cardinal Cushing), perhaps because he was an outspoken civil rights advocate who had proved his courage by playing a key role in integrating Middleburg's lunch counters. Before St. Stephen opened, Kennedy had attended Pereira's services at Middleburg Community Center, often arriving early for a private theological conversation. On November 10, Pereira gave him a bible that he would carry to Texas, and that Johnson would use to take the oath of office.
Marie Ridder had often went riding with Jackie and had known her and Jack for years. When she stopped at Wexford for one of these fall weekends (most likely the last one), Kennedy complimented the house within Jackie's hearing and she thought they seemed "very cozy" together. Bill Walton confirmed her impression that Jack and Jackie's relationship had improved when they dined together a few days later, telling her that Jackie had taken him aside to say "I think we're going to make it. I think we're going to be a couple. I've won."
The family attended Sunday mass at St. Stephen the Martyr Church in Middleburg and heard Father Albert Pereira preach a homily about Christian death and the high cost of elaborate funerals. In a nod to the President, he said "The Saints today are the peacemakers." The church had opened in April and was purpose-built for the First Family with a soundproof and bullet-proof usher's room where the President could take calls. Pereira was one of the few clergymen with whom Kennedy felt comfortable discussing Catholic dogma and his faith (another was Cardinal Cushing), perhaps because he was an outspoken civil rights advocate who had proved his courage by playing a key role in integrating Middleburg's lunch counters. Before St. Stephen opened, Kennedy had attended Pereira's services at Middleburg Community Center, often arriving early for a private theological conversation. On November 10, Pereira gave him a bible that he would carry to Texas, and that Johnson would use to take the oath of office.
Marie Ridder had often went riding with Jackie and had known her and Jack for years. When she stopped at Wexford for one of these fall weekends (most likely the last one), Kennedy complimented the house within Jackie's hearing and she thought they seemed "very cozy" together. Bill Walton confirmed her impression that Jack and Jackie's relationship had improved when they dined together a few days later, telling her that Jackie had taken him aside to say "I think we're going to make it. I think we're going to be a couple. I've won."