Nevadans mourn loss of JFK Jr.

Monday, July 19, 1999 | 11:57 a.m.

Mirage Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn, like most of the rest of America, spent the weekend glued to the television watching the tragedy of John F. Kennedy Jr. unfold.

Wynn, who was with his two daughters in Sun Valley, Idaho, over the weekend, hosted Kennedy in Las Vegas in 1989. Wynn heard the news that Kennedy's private plane went down, taking with it his life and the lives of his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette. As hour after hour of television coverage recapped the Kennedy legacy, Wynn felt most strongly the loss of the Bessettes' parents.

"No parent should have to endure the loss of a child, much less two children in a split second," Wynn said today. "I can identify with the parents of the two women because I have daughters who are similar in age.

Carolyn Bessette was 33 and Lauren 34. Wynn's daughter, Kevyn, who in 1989 escorted the son of the late President John F. Kennedy during his first visit to Las Vegas, is 32. Wynn's other daughter, Gillian, is 30.

Wynn and his wife, Elaine, had dinner with JFK Jr. at Stefano's in Wynn's Golden Nugget, where Kennedy and several friends visited after he graduated from law school in 1989. It was one of at least two known visits Kennedy made to Las Vegas.

"John was a perfect gentleman with wonderful manners -- a real sweet person," Wynn said, noting that when he got the news Saturday of Kennedy's missing plane, he said: "Like everyone else my response was 'good grief.' "

Wynn said, however, that he does not believe there is a "Kennedy curse," despite the tragedies that have befallen the family that many Americans have said is the closest thing this country has to royalty.

"Curse is a theatrical word that refers to a driving force causing the events like the assassination of two brothers (John and Robert Kennedy) and the incident involving their brother Ted Kennedy. I just don't believe that is the case. But certainly this big family has had its share of tragedy."

The incident involving Sen. Ted Kennedy, which Wynn referred to, was the drowning of Kennedy's secretary Mary Jo Kopechne on Chappaquiddick Island following an accident off a narrow bridge in a car Kennedy was driving. Ironically, the 30th anniversary of that tragedy is today.

Sun Editor Brian Greenspun, whose daughter, Amy, also escorted Kennedy at an event in Chicago, said like most Americans of his generation, "we have been surrogate parents to John. We watched his birth and we watched him grow into an outstanding young man, which is a great tribute to his mother, Jackie.

"My family will always be indebted to the Kennedys because John's father pardoned my father in 1961."

Late Sun publisher Hank Greenspun had pleaded guilty to violating the U.S. Neutrality Act when he shipped guns, ammunition and planes to the infant state of Israel in 1947-48. Kennedy's pardon restored Greenspun's civil rights including his right to vote.

"I am deeply saddened by the tragic loss of John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a statement today. "For three generations, the Kennedy family has contributed so much to the political and cultural life of our nation."

Reid was part of a group that approached Kennedy about running for the vacant Senate seat from New York this year. JFK Jr. declined, saying the timing wasn't right.

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., who met JFK Jr. at a gathering for his magazine, George, said: "He has much of the charisma his father and other Kennedys have. It seems that each generation of the Kennedy myth seems star-crossed and has faced enormous tragedy."

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said the Kennedy family is admired by Republicans and Democrats alike.

"I think when you look back at it, the Kennedy name is probably as well know as Lincoln, or any other individual or family that has played a role in American history," he said.