Never, never,'' said Cutler, who had stopped Saturday at the Hyannis post office to pick up his mail. Francis Byron Jr. of Staten Island, N.Y., toting groceries to his hotel room on Hyannis' Main Street, said the news reminded him of the death of Princess Diana. Charisma,'' Byron said. A few blocks away, people attending a gay pride festival were stunned. B.J. Weiss, a Cape Cod resident, said the Kennedys have been strong supporters of issues important to gays and lesbians.
Reporters set up camp outside the family compound on Nantucket Sound.
Raymond Furtado, who said he had always admired the president, shook his head when he heard that some wreckage had been recovered. Larry Mangle of Mount Vernon, N.Y., said it was especially tragic since John Kennedy and his sister, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, had tried so hard to keep a low profile and seemed to have been raised so well by their mother. Correia, who was selling Kennedy Memorial ballcaps as a fund-raiser for the local high school, struggled to understand the unfortunate turn of events. But he knew exactly why the family has become the closest thing that America has to royalty. They have electricity, he said.