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Hyannis Port mourns the loss of a neighbor

E-mail|Link August 26, 2009 03:30 PM

(Globe Staff / John Tlumacki)

The scene at the Kennedy compound

By Maria Sacchetti and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

HYANNIS PORT -- This seaside village of clapboard cottages and picket fences clung today to the signs of a waning summer. Bicycles lay idle in green grass. Beach towels dried on fences. Boats bobbed in the golden waters of Nantucket Sound.

At dawn the only evidence of the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy could be found on Marchant Avenue, where burly motorcycle police officers blocked the entrance to the six-acre Kennedy compound. Several dozen journalists worked behind wooden barriers, where klieg lights and satellite television trucks had been humming since well before dawn. By afternoon, the encampment had mushroomed into a full media village with at least 10 satellite trucks powered by the constant low roar of electric generators.

Around the corner from the scrum of reporters, a garbage man named Emil DeLuze toiled in obscurity, dripping with sweat as he dumped pungent trash cans into a compactor in the back of a truck.

"I met him all the time," DeLuze, 53, said with a nod. "He's just a very nice man. He always had time to say hello and shake your hand."

That same kindness was not universal in this exclusive enclave in Hyannis Port, where some residents ignored the help. "Not the Kennedys," said DeLuze, who lives in South Yarmouth.

"We lost a good friend to America."

While the world mourns the death of a statesman, Hyannis Port has lost a neighbor. Kennedy was a fixture in this tight-knit village, wearing khaki pants and short-sleeve golf shirts as he puttered on a golf cart toward Nantucket Sound. His wife, Vicki, and their three Portuguese water dogs -- Splash, Sunny, and Cappy -- typically joined him for the ride to the Hyannis Port Yacht Club. Kennedy often held court at the club's dock, swapping stories with other sailors while they waited for shuttles out to their boats.

"Everybody else sees him on TV giving speeches," said Barnstable Police Chief Paul MacDonald. "Down here he is just another resident who wants to spend some time on the water."

Barnstable police have grown accustomed to standing sentry on Marchant Avenue for Kennedy weddings and funerals. "Good times, bad times," MacDonald said.

Like much of the world, Hyannis Port woke up to learn that Kennedy was gone. Around the corner from the family compound, Jose Bosch, 50, noticed that another neighbor had lowered their flag to half staff. Bosch walked to the front of his home and dropped his flag to half staff.

�He was very approachable and a nice guy," said Bosch, who has a view of Kennedy's pier. "He wasn�t aloof. He didn�t walk around with guards. You could have walked right up to him."

This was the first summer, Bosch noted, that the senator traveled more frequently with guards and required help boarding his sailboat. But he still seemed to enjoy his time with his children, family, and dogs. �I think they had a nice summer with him,� Bosch said.

Another neighbor, Sam Barber, said the senator's friends had been preparing for this day, but his death still came as a shock.

"He went too fast," Barber said. "It's unbelievable."

As the sun climbed higher, mourners were drawn to Marchant Avenue. At an impromptu memorial on one street corner, people left roses, American flags, a life jacket, and a red, white, and blue buoy with a sign, "RIP Teddy." Anna Griswold, 38, came clutching a Mylar balloon that said, "Thinking of you." Griswold had also brought a thank you card -- not a condolence card -- to express her gratitude to the family for all that the senator had done.

"I've never known Massachusetts without him," said Griswold, who lives in Centerville, another village in Barnstable. "If you talk to anybody in Massachusetts, they'll all have a story. Everybody has a Ted Kennedy story."

At the police barricade, MacDonald's last Kennedy story was 3 1/2 weeks ago, when the chief saw him motoring toward the water in that golf cart with Vicki and the dogs. The senator waved and flashed a broad smile.

"He was always smiling," MacDonald said.

"It's a loss for the entire community. They are a huge part of this town. He was a staple in Hyannis."