SPRINGFIELD — With the eternal flame burning brightly, members of the community gathered in Forest Park to honor the late John F. Kennedy, whose life was taken by an assassin’s bullet 62 years ago.
A crowd of about 100 paid tribute on Saturday to a man who was a U.S. representative and then a senator in Massachusetts before becoming 35th president of the United States in 1960.
“We hearken back to the days of Camelot, and now we’re dealing with the age and the days of chaos,” Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said. “We had President Kennedy, a war hero, an individual (who) governed with intelligence, with honor, with self-deprecating humor, whose caring and inspiration inspired many, many people — young people, all creeds, colors and backgrounds — not what the country could do for you but for what you could do for the country.”
Sarno noted that only two locations continue this memorial event, one being the eternal flame in Forest Park. The other is at Kennedy’s burial site in Arlington National Cemetery.
The flame, master of ceremonies Anthony Cignoli said, “is always shining, always, day and night in this incredible park, and it recalls an era and time … of hope when there was such an amazing feeling of strength and energy about what the United States was and could be.”
Kennedy’s term was cut short when he was fatally shot while riding in a motorcade in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
Among the speakers was James Sullivan, brother of the late former Mayor William Sullivan. Both were among a group of supporters and admirers of the late president who helped create the eternal flame tribute more than 60 years ago.
“We as Americans have to get together and fight to keep our democracy,” Sullivan said, urging audience members to remember Kennedy’s legacy.
Jack Chamberland, who stood in for U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, who couldn’t attend, told how Neal as a child saw Kennedy speak on the steps of Springfield City Hall and it was in that moment he knew he wanted to pursue a career in public service.
“The time we find ourselves in now, I think it’s important to remember President Kennedy’s legacy, what he stood for …,” Chamberland said. “We in public life hope to be emblematic of those very qualities.”
Hampden County Sheriff Nicholas Cocchi noted that Kennedy’s time in office may have been cut short, “but the principles he lived by still guide us today — service to your community, responsibility to your neighbor and the belief that every person can make a difference.”
“President Kennedy understood that leadership is not about recognition, he believed that progress happens when we work together,” Cocchi added.
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