ARLINGTON, Va. -- The woman who taught a nation how to mourn and then to go on living was buried here Monday, beside the eternal flame she lit 31 years ago for her slain husband.
In ceremonies as private as her life, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was remembered for her style and strength, a woman whose death seems to define the end of an era.
At a small graveside service in Arlington National Cemetery, President Clinton praised the former first lady as a "remarkable woman whose life will forever glow in the lives of her fellow Americans."
Earlier, at a funeral Mass in New York, Sen. Edward Kennedy eulogized his sister-in-law as "a blessing to us and to the nation. . . . She graced our history. And for those of us who knew and loved her - she graced our lives."
Onassis died Thursday at 64 of cancer in New York.
To many of the sad and curious who flocked to her Fifth Avenue apartment building or watched retrospectives on television, Jackie's death seemed too abrupt and too soon. She had lived three decades beyond the spotlight, yet the grainy black and white images of a too-young widow streamed back like a worn refrain from Camelot.
In 1963, the nation buried its murdered president, John F. Kennedy, with muffled drums, slowly moving caissons and funereal marches - as planned by his widow. Monday, she was mourned the way she would have preferred: in private.
Then, a little girl reached beneath a flag to touch her father's casket. Monday, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg kneeled to place a white lily on her mother's bier.
Then, a little boy called John-John whirled to salute his father, buried on the day he turned 3. Monday, John F. Kennedy Jr. said goodbye to his mother before laying his hand for a poignant moment on his father's grave marker.
Gathering hours before Monday morning's funeral, thousands stood outside St. Ignatius Loyola church in New York as a hearse carrying the mahagony casket, covered with ferns and a cross of white flowers, arrived.
In the same church where Jacqueline Bouvier was baptized and confirmed, old Kennedy hands like Pierre Salinger, Dave Powers and McGeorge Bundy gathered. Hollywood figures Daryl Hannah, romantically linked to John Jr., and Arnold Schwarzenegger, married to a Kennedy, mingled with first ladies Hillary Rodham Clinton and Lady Bird Johnson.
And for the first time, many heard Onassis' first name pronounced as she preferred it: "Jock-leen."
John Jr. told the 1,000 invited guests that he and Caroline had struggled to choose readings that "captured my mother's essence." They settled on her "love of words, the bonds of home and family, and her spirit of adventure."
Onassis' children planned the simple, 90-minute funeral Mass, down to the white flowers and candles on the altar. John Jr., 33, read from the prophet Isaiah. Schlossberg, 36, invoked her parents' beloved Cape Cod as she read Memory of Cape Cod by poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. Onassis' longtime companion, Maurice Tempelsman, read from a favorite poem, Ithaca. Opera singer Jessye Norman sang Ave Maria.
There was no mention of Aristotle Onassis, the Greek billionaire Jackie married in 1968 - to the horror and dismay of her Kennedy kin. Nor was there mention of the court fight over Onassis' fortune, in which Jackie settled for a reported $ 26 million. Monday, an Onassis family foundation announced it would donate $ 50,000 to a U.S. charity as a tribute to Jackie.
In his eulogy, Edward Kennedy skipped over the Onassis chapter in Jacqueline Onassis' life. Instead, he spoke of what impressed and fascinated a nation:
"During those four endless days in 1963, she held us together as a family and a country. In large part because of her, we could grieve and then go on. She lifted us up, and in the doubt and darkness, she gave her fellow citizens back their pride as Americans. She was then 34 years old."
"I often think of what she said about Jack in December after he died: 'They made him a legend, when he would have preferred to be a man.' Jackie would have preferred to be just herself, but the world insisted that she be a legend, too."
Perhaps, the last Kennedy legend.
That seemed clear as eight honorary pallbearers lined the church steps. Members of the next generation - Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Timothy Shriver, Christopher Lawford, William Kennedy Smith, Edward Kennedy Jr. - their youth and varied troubles a reminder of how heavy a legacy can be.
There were also reminders of how loving and well-loved the family is. Former Secret Service agent Jack Walsh, who protected Caroline and John Jr. as children, was a pallbearer.
And among the guests: Roosevelt Grier, former football star and one-time bodyguard to Robert Kennedy. "She meant a lot to me," he said simply.
The man who discreetly shared Onassis' last years bade his own goodbye. Said Tempelsman: Her life "was filled with adventure and wisdom, laughter and love, gallantry and grace."
And then a final journey back to Washington, the city she charmed and transformed and fled so many years ago.
President Clinton met the family's chartered jet at National Airport. A 28-car motorcade passed thousands baking in the heat under blue skies as it made its way to Arlington National Cemetery. Some held signs: "Jackie - We Loved You, Too."
"I was in this exact spot 31 years ago," said Charles McAree, 56, of Arlington, standing outside the cemetery gate where he watched the president's funeral cortege go by in 1963. "I was just thinking about how much has gone by in the last 35 years."
Norman Reno, 64, of Oak Lawn, Ill., took a break from sightseeing to pay his last respects. "I'm part of that Kennedy generation," he said. "It feels like a family member lost. They really had a connection with the people."
Just 100 family members and the Clintons attended the graveside ceremony, held at the breathtaking spot high above the Potomac River across from Washington that draws millions of tourists each year. Monday, no visitors were allowed. And mourners at 23 other funerals scheduled at the 612-acre cemetery were carefully screened.
The Onassis service lasted but 14 minutes. The bells of Washington's National Cathedral tolled 64 times.
"God gave her very great gifts and imposed upon her great burdens," said Clinton, who spoke briefly. "She bore them all with dignity and grace and uncommon common sense."
When it was over, John Jr. and Caroline - whom their uncle called Jackie's "two miracles" - knelt in prayer, approached the casket for the last time and bid farewell.
