Wednesday, November 23,1983/The Battalion/Page 5
Last ceremony held
for Kennedy death
Five members of the Class of ’84 fall off
Vance the elephant after the trainer
commanded him to roll. The Class of ’84
brought Vance to The Grove Tuesday to
■ celebrate Elephant Walk. From bottom to
"V 1 top, Debbie Sherman, an agriculture
sj -
Class of ’84 takes a fall
Mike Davis, Battalion staff
United Press International
DALLAS — Some 1,()()() peo
ple packed the John F. Kennedy
Memorial Plaza Tuesday for the
20th and final official ceremony
commemorating the late presi
dent’s assassination.
The crowd gathered under
overcast skies alternating — as
they had that morning 20 years
ago — between threats of rain
and promises of sunshine.
The sun won out during a
ringing baritone invocation by
People’s Baptist Church Pastor
the Rev. S.M. Wright, whose
prayer echoed off the last rem
nants of the downtown skyline
as Kennedy had seen it in the
final moments of his life.
“We need a pluralistic men
tality,” Wright implored, “to
help us empathize with the
needy, the jobless, the down
trodden.
“To this end, Almighty God,
we thank you for the life and
contribution of John F. Ken
nedy.”
The services had running
through them a dual theme:
commemorating Kennedy in
life, and expunging Dallas of
blame in his death.
Toward the latter end, mas
ter of ceremonies U.S. Rep.
John Bryant, D-Texas, read a
letter from JFK’s brother, U.S.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-
Mass., conveying his regrets at
not attending the ceremony.
“Among the last words my
brother heard were, 'Mr. Ken
nedy, you can’t say Dallas
doesn’t love you (spoken by Nel
lie Connally, wife of former
Gov. John Connally),” the letter
slated.
“I believe those words were
true then and are true today.”
Keynote speakers included
former Sen. Ralph Yarborough,
Kennedy’s colleague in the Sen
ate from 1957 to the presidential
election in I960.
Commemorative addresses
also came from U.S. Rep. Henry
B. Gonzalez, D-Texas, and state
Rep. Thomas McGee, speaker
of the Massachusetts House.
McGee, whose speech ended
the ceremony, cited an address
by Kennedy to the Mas-
sachusetts House in which he
outlined traits required of politi
cians aspiring to greatness.
“Those qualities he (Ken
nedy) ascribed to the founding
fathers of Massachusetts best de
scribed him,” McGee said. “Pres
ident Kennedy was a man of
courage, justice and integrity.”
The well-groomed and most
ly youthful crowd applauded
politely during the speeches.
Their reasons for attending
seemed as diverse as the appeal
of Kennedy himself.
“My mother was in Parkland
Hospital having my little sister
the day he was shot,” said Alma
Warlick, 24, of Dallas. “My sister
was born and died that same
day. So I decided to come down
here and commemorate her
death Loo.”
Dallas lawyer Sam Boyd, 38,
also was there. With a U.S. Army
Spcial Forces patch pinned to his
lapel, he said Kennedy was espe
cially revered at the North Caro
lina Special Forces school which
bears his name.
This year will be the final tri
bute on the anniversary of Ken
nedy’s death. Dallas County
Democratic Party officials said
they will acede to a request of
Kennedy’s children that future
observances be on the date of
their father’s birth.
economics major from China, Tx., Margie
Stenzler, a marketing major from Ft. Worth,
Jeretta Broussard, an agriculture economics
major from Nome, Sharon Fontenot, a
marketing major from Beaumont, and Tina
Hawley, a marketing major from China, Tx.
r
)riginal Thanksgiving dinner
fas in Texas, historians say
United Press International
L PASO — The first Thank
ing dinner held in what is
I /the United Slates was in El
not Plymouth, Mass., bor-
historians are claiming.
jppMAnd the menu for the ban-
e ligliB 110 g’ ve thanks to God prob-
(jlosijM) included the traditional
jxican dishes of tacos and
■ales, not turkey, said Leon
Tz, southwestern history ex-
j and author.
The year was 1598 and the
rims all spoke Spanish, Metz
lage. iaiil. The Pilgrims in Mas-
ausetts celebrated the first
anksgiving in 1621.
endalfBOonJuan de Onate of Zacate-
oomstffi, Mexico was leader of a siz-
areaaitbje colonizing expedition
:d forlthch crossed into what is now
gatlMjexas in that year, according to
of SfJjslorical accounts.
eri.BThe soulh-of-the-border pil-
ksmiifcs had no problems with the
in Belt winter, but they had
her reasons to be grateful,
leu. said.
(The Onate expedition
Irked the first attempt by any
Riquisiadors to cross that
ilretch of desert from Chi-
Iliahua City, 240 miles south of
Paso, to the border,” Metz
1. “They nearly died in the
tempt.”
Onate is credited with settling
what is now New Mexico. His
claims were also the basis for
Spain’s ownership of a number
of other western states.
The conquistador was a man
of considerable wealth. His
father was Don Cristobal Onate,
a Spanish nobleman, and his
mother was Dona Isabel de
Tolosa, the great granddaugh
ter of Montezuma.
Relying on Indian reports of a
great river to the north, Onate
traveled directly across the de
sert, searching for water holes
along the way.
Armando Chavez, official his
torian for Juarez, Mexico, said
Onate’s expedition consisted of
“two Franciscan priests, 400 sol
diers, 130 families in 83 ox carts
and 7,000 animals including cat
tle, sheep, pigs, mules and
horses.”
Metz said the expedition ar
rived on the shores of the Rio
Grande around the end of
April, 1598. He said Onate and
other members of the expedi
tion knelt on what is now Texas
soil and thanked God for guid
ing them safely across the de
sert.
“Members of the expedition
claimed a miracle or two helped
them along the way,” Metz said,
“such as an unexpected rainfall
when they were wandering in
the desert, and clouds when the
heat became too unbearable.”
Chavez said the first El Paso
Thanksgiving was held on
Thursday, April 30, 1598 on the
Roman Catholic Feast of the
Ascension.
Chavez said accounts of the
expedition indicated a special
mass of Thanksgiving was cele
brated .
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