Flowers kept coming. Mourners grew in numbers. And members of the Kennedy clan gathered again to say goodbye Saturday to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Mrs. Onassis' body remained in her 15-room Fifth Avenue apartment, where she died of cancer Thursday night "surrounded by her friends and her family and her books," said her son, John F. Kennedy Jr. Her impromptu wake continued, with guests coming to her home for a last visit.The 64-year-old former first lady faded quickly after doctors said her lymph cancer was untreatable. She returned home from the hospital Wednesday and died a day later.
On Saturday, her granddaughters - 6-year-old Rose and 4-year-old Tatiana - arrived outside her apartment house in matching red coats, raising images of the 6-year-old Caroline Kennedy at her father's 1963 funeral.
Caroline and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, brought the girls inside the building and past a media horde. Dozens of bouquets - pink roses and carnations, red roses - were piled outside its entrance.
A private service Sunday in the apartment will include Psalm readings and readings from the Gospels, said Monsignor George Bardes. Church services in Manhattan on Monday are to be followed by the burial in Arlington National Cemetery.
The Kennedy mystique, along with Mrs. Onassis' personal allure, brought several hundred mourners out along Fifth Avenue.
"It was like magic that drew me here," explained Alice Lipe, who lives in the neighborhood. "I just came to pay my respects. This is the only way I could."
At Grand Central Terminal, which Mrs. Onassis is credited with saving from the wrecking ball, the atmosphere was solemn and churchlike as people from around the world paid homage to her.
In the glittering, newly restored south hall, people stopped to sign two large memorial books.
"Jackie was distinguished by her unique character of courage and femininity, which she portrayed with flashy flair. Love you, Jackie," wrote 75-year-old Valerie Pleva of Manhattan.
In Newport, R.I., about 250 people attended a special Mass at St. Mary's Church, where John F. Kennedy and then Jacqueline Bouvier were married Sept. 12, 1953.
"I went to his inauguration and I wore this scarf," Francis Cousineau of Newport said, pointing to the red, white and blue silk scarf knotted around her neck. "I stood outside at the wedding."