Edward Kennedy

With two Coast Guard officers standing like silent sentinels on the stern, hands folded behind their backs, the Coast Guard cutter carrying the bodies of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, and her sister, crawled into Little Harbor - the final leg of a long, terrifying journey. With Kennedy's uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and the senator's sons - Edward Jr. and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I. - as escorts, the bodies of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren, were placed into two white medical examiner's Suburbans.

Was the bizarre New Year's Eve death of Michael Kennedy on an Aspen ski slope merely a strange footnote to the glamorous highs and tragic lows of America's foremost political family? Or was it finally the end of a myth that was once called "Camelot"? The news that the middle child of Robert F. Kennedy's 11 children had skied into a tree while playing a makeshift game of football made front-page news across the nation - and was greeted with a strange mix of titillation and jaded familiarity.

TWO 'TOP 10' LISTS TOP TEN UNACCEPTABLE CAREER GOALS GLEANED FROM FAMOUS FOLKS' HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOKS: 10. William Kennedy Smith - gynecologist. 9. Jimmie Swaggart - ministry. 8. Patrick Buchanan - diplomatic service. 7. Edward Kennedy - driving instructor. 6. Dan Quayle - vice president. 5. Michael Milken - fund manager. 4. Michael Jackson - cosmetologist 3. Michael Corleone - funeral director. 2. Rambo - peace activist. 1. Sylvester Stallone - poet-philosopher.

Mention the name Teddy Kennedy and I go into my Tevye mood. Tevye was the milkman in Fiddler on the Roof who talked out his dilemmas by saying, "On the one hand," and then, "On the other hand. " On the one hand, I have always thought Kennedy made a good senator. On the other hand, I thought he wouldn't make a good president. After the recent Palm Beach incident, though, I am inclining to only one hand. Teddy may well be good for nothing. I render that judgment tentatively. Much about the alleged rape is in dispute and no court has yet rendered a verdict.

Vincent Avellino no longer visited the race track, but he still had a knack for finding business deals with the right odds - then would turn around and give some of his profits to others, friends and relatives recalled yesterday. Mr. Avellino, 86, a longtime resident of Collingswood, died Tuesday at Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center. He co-founded Avellino Tire & Auto Centers, which has 20 outlets in the region. He was also one of the original partners, with the late Eugene V. Mori, in the construction of Garden State Park in Cherry Hill in 1942.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy looked out at an audience of Temple University students yesterday and recalled a battle for the White House that was waged before most of them were born. He recalled the visit his brother John F. Kennedy made to the Temple campus in the waning days of a race with Richard M. Nixon that ended in the closest election of the century. "On Oct. 31, 1960, my brother came to Temple to attend a rally," Kennedy told the students. "He spoke about his goal to get America moving again.

There arose in the Senate last week a great weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, as liberal Democrats bemoaned the defeat of Edward Kennedy's bill to increase the minimum wage. The tears were mostly crocodile tears. The Democrats made out like bandits on this one. Kennedy's bill was lovely politics. It permitted the Democrats to paint themselves as defenders of the downtrodden, benefactors of the lowest income families, apostles of compassion - all of that. This left the Republicans to be depicted as hard-hearted malefactors of great wealth whose greatest pleasure in life is to grind the faces of the poor.

A new Kennedy generation entered Congress yesterday as Joseph P. Kennedy 2d took over the House seat occupied 40 years ago by his uncle John F. Kennedy. After his swearing-in, Kennedy, 34, playfully exchanged high-fives with those around him and a handshake with his uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.). Watching from the gallery, Kennedy's mother, Ethel, said she was "elated and very excited" and later inscribed a guest book in her son's still-undecorated office with "Yippee!" At Kennedy's side as he took the oath were his 6-year-old twins, Matthew and Joseph.

Ninety-one-year-old Benjamin Stuhl remembers with pleasure young John Fitzgerald Kennedy campaigning for Congress near his East Boston hardware store more than 40 years ago - seeking the same Eighth District seat Kennedy's nephew now seeks. Seventy-year-old Frances Cohen fondly recalls Rose Kennedy phoning her decades ago when she was a salesperson at a fancy downtown dress shop. She was delighted when Kennedy asked if she would select some clothes for her. And 83-year-old James McLean proudly relates that for years he backed the political pursuits of Robert, John and Edward Kennedy, and that he intends to continue the tradition with the new generation of Kennedys.