It’s a quiet corner of Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. But the ground there holds a century of American history. And tragedy.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was laid to rest there in 1994. She lies next to her first husband, President John F. Kennedy. He was assassinated in Dallas back in 1963. The couple’s final resting place isn’t just about them, though. It’s a family plot. A heavy one.
Who else is buried in the JFK family grave site?
You might think it’s just the couple. It’s not. The site includes their two children who died in infancy.
Arabella Kennedy passed away in 1956. She was born prematurely and lived for only a few days. Then there is Patrick Bouvier Kennedy. He died in 1963, just eight days after his birth, due to respiratory distress. Their losses weighed on Jack and Jackie for the rest of their lives. They are buried alongside their parents.
The cemetery grounds serve as a final refuge for a family that lived under the loudest spotlight in the world.
Why isn’t JFK Jr. buried with his parents?
This is the question people ask most. John F. Kennedy Jr. reached adulthood. He became a lawyer, a publisher, a symbol of his parents’ legacy reborn. He died in 1999 in a plane crash off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. His wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, died with him.
He wasn’t buried in Arlington.
His ashes were scattered at sea. It was the wish of his sister, Caroline Kennedy. The ocean was his choice, in a way. He loved the water. It feels right, doesn’t it? A different kind of rest.
So when you visit Arlington, you see the grave of the President and First Lady. You see the small markers for Arabella and Patrick. But you don’t see JFK Jr. He’s out there. Somewhere in the Atlantic.
It leaves a gap. A literal one in the stone markers, and a figurative one in the family narrative. We expect them all to be together. But they aren’t. Some stories end on land. Others drift away.
