Volume 73, Number 30 | November 26 – December 2, 2003
ARCHIVES
40 years ago in The Villager
Thurs., Nov. 28, 1963
* Village houses of worship were open to mourners for the late President John F. Kennedy. Friday night the synagogues of the Village offered prayers for the president, whose death had come just hours before. At the Brotherhood Synagogue, a eulogy was delivered, not by a rabbi, but by a Roman Catholic priest, Father Mario Albanesi, pastor of Our Lady of Pompeii Church. He did so at the invitation of Rabbi Irving J. Block, spiritual leader of the temple. Most Protestant churches reported a “larger than usual” congregation for Sunday services, at which prayers were said for President J.F.K. Roman Catholic churches offered prayers for Kennedy during Sunday Masses and held Requiem Masses on Monday night.
* The Village was reported to be “exceedingly quiet” the night of the assassination. “Almost everything, except some restaurants and stores, was shut down,” the paper reported.
* As of Monday afternoon, police said a guard was still being mounted in front of the headquarters of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee at 799 Broadway, the group with which the accused — and by then already slain — assassin of J.F.K., Lee Harvey Oswald, was alleged to have been connected…. The Sixth Precinct said crime had been down over the weekend, probably because fewer people had come to visit the Village.
* In comments by local leaders, Charles Pagella, president of the Greenwich Village Kiwanis Club, said: “It was very, very shocking. Even though I am a Republican, this incredible tragedy unites all parties in mourning.”…. Anthony Dapolito, identified as “Chairman, Borough President’s Local Planning Board,” said, “America is slowly returning to its senses after this almost unbelievable blow, a blow which has rallied us into a dramatic display of unity.” Dapolito blamed Kennedy’s death on “hatred manufactured by sick extremists who seek to divide and ruin our great country.”
* Sculptor Sidney Simon of St. Mark’s Pl. had crafted a medallion presented to J.F.K. just two weeks earlier when the president was honored by the Protestant Council of the City of New York.
