Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The church lady? You must be kidding! (JFK Intern)
New York Daily News ^ | 5/16/03 | RALPH R. ORTEGA and CORKY SIEMASZKO

Posted on 05/16/2003 3:37:52 AM PDT by kattracks

Mimi Fahnestock leaving Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church yesterday...
...and in 1963, during her alleged affair with then President John F. Kennedy (below)
Not Mimi!

That was the reaction yesterday from the shocked friends of Marion (Mimi) Fahnestock after she admitted to the Daily News that she was "the Mimi" who had a 17-month affair with former President John F. Kennedy.

Their image of the poised and demure administrator who took the pictures at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan was jolted by the revelations.

"She is the least likely person I would ever have suspected to have had a romance" with Kennedy, said Joan (Bitsy) Tatnall, one of Fahnestock's oldest friends.

Virtually everybody interviewed said the 60-year-old grandmother is a sweetheart whose admitted romp with JFK should be forgiven - and put into context.

"Nobody at 19 can resist the President," congregant Patricia Hickey said. "I don't see it as her fault."

As Fahnestock was thrust into a spotlight she'd shunned for 40 years, her family and friends closed ranks around her.

"She issued a statement, that's all we wish to say," said Fahnestock's sister-in-law, Anne Beardsley of Arlington, Mass.

Her daughters, Lisa Alpaugh, 34, of Arlington, Va., and Jenny Axelman, 31, of Redwood, Calif., also declined to discuss their mom.

At the church, cook Gary Engelhart said no one thinks any worse of Fahnestock for carrying on with Kennedy.

"Nobody is holding it against her," he said. "You have to remember, this is a church. Forgiveness is very common here."

Congregants know Fahnestock for her good works.

Helps the homeless

Long divorced from her late husband, investment banker Anthony Fahnestock, and a grandmother of four, Fahnestock is a devoted church member who helped it develop its outreach programs to the destitute and homeless.

She organized church functions. She managed the Web site and helped market Pastor Thomas Tewell's taped sermons.

Fahnestock, an avid jogger, ran track in high school and stayed fit by walking 35 blocks every day from her upper East Side home to her job.

Among merchants in her neighborhood, she is a well-known and friendly face.

"She's like the lady next door," said Michael Bergenfeld, owner of the Service Hardware store at 89th St. and Lexington Ave. "She buys a light bulb or little doodads, whatever she needs."

Tatnall, who grew up with Fahnestock in ritzy Rumson, N.J., and is now her neighbor, said she has always admired her friend and called her the "smartest girl in our class."

"I think probably Jack Kennedy would have gone to bed with anybody," Tatnall added. "That's not to say she's anybody."

Born into the blue-blood Beardsley family, Fahnestock grew up riding horses and attending private schools with the children of other Jersey horse country aristocrats.

She was later enrolled in the exclusive Miss Porter's boarding school in Farmington, Conn., where she was the editor of the high school newspaper.

In 1961, Kennedy was elected President, and Fahnestock was offered the chance to interview Miss Porter's most famous alumna - First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

The interview fell through. But the waif caught Kennedy's eye, and a year later she was awarded a prestigious White House internship, even though she couldn't type.

The next 17 months would become part of JFK's - and Mimi's - history.



TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: adultery; affair; associatedpress; beardsley; blazestarr; bombshell; camealot; camelot; clintonlegacy; coverup; dna; fornigate; intern; jfk; johnfkennedy; juditexner; kennedy; kneepadbrigade; lewinsky; marilyn; marilynmonroe; marion; marionfahnestock; marymeyer; mediabias; mimi; mimifahnestock; monica; monicalewinsky; now; nownags; pearlnecklace; presidentkennedy; redacted; saintkennedy; screamingmimis; sexintheworkplace; sexualharassment; that60sintern; thelistgoesonandon
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-42 next last

1 posted on 05/16/2003 3:37:52 AM PDT by kattracks
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: kattracks

Beardsley, wearing one of the many pearl necklaces she received that year.
2 posted on 05/16/2003 3:47:45 AM PDT by rabidralph (I don't mean to be mean.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rabidralph
Ah! There is hope for Monica! With good works, she can redeem herself in the eyes of Presbyterians! ;-)
3 posted on 05/16/2003 3:57:22 AM PDT by SubMareener
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: kattracks
"Nobody is holding it against her,"

Hold it against her? In Democratic circles she's more likely to be a celebrity - another one who "got away with it".

4 posted on 05/16/2003 4:01:15 AM PDT by libertylover (Grateful to all who have served.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rabidralph
Beardsley, wearing one of the many pearl necklaces she received that year.

For what it's worth, it's supposed to be bad luck to have pearls unless you buy them yourself.

5 posted on 05/16/2003 4:03:21 AM PDT by libertylover (Grateful to all who have served.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: rabidralph
oh,that's just plain bad.......(snicker)
6 posted on 05/16/2003 4:14:53 AM PDT by quack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: kattracks
They only figured out who one of the "Mimis" were. Keep digging folks, there's more of them.
7 posted on 05/16/2003 4:15:32 AM PDT by leadhead
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kattracks
Where are the photos of the two of them together?

That would make it more convincing.
8 posted on 05/16/2003 4:15:36 AM PDT by chainsaw
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kattracks
People wonder why NOW didnt get involved with Monica and now this. Well the reason is that NOW gets its control by blackmailing the Democrat Party and the likes of those in charge. You wont hear one word from them but if this were a Republican the airwaves would be full and the so called "Mainstream Media" would resurrect old JFK.
9 posted on 05/16/2003 4:16:22 AM PDT by gunnedah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: libertylover
"waif"????????
10 posted on 05/16/2003 4:16:48 AM PDT by Carolinamom (Glad I'm an American)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: kattracks
Why is a forty year old sex story so popular?

Good for her and her "church" life she didn't let her teen age tryst set the course for her life.

I say leave the lady alone for Gods sake.

I don't care who she blew. It's old smeary news.
11 posted on 05/16/2003 4:27:28 AM PDT by oceanperch (Who will represent Amber?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kattracks
Why is a forty year old sex story so popular?

Good for her and her "church" life she didn't let her teen age tryst set the course for her life.

I say leave the lady alone for Gods sake.

I don't care who she blew. It's old smeary news.
12 posted on 05/16/2003 4:29:04 AM PDT by oceanperch (Who will represent Amber?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: oceanperch
I did not post that twice.
13 posted on 05/16/2003 4:32:03 AM PDT by oceanperch (Who will represent Amber?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: oceanperch
A repentant sinner is one thing:

"The gift for me is that this allowed me to tell my two married daughters a secret that I've been holding for 41 years," she said. "It's a huge relief."

She acts like it's a good thing. She never told her ex-husband (whom she married after her adulterous affair with JFK). Why is it any more her kids' matter than it is her husband's?

14 posted on 05/16/2003 4:33:20 AM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS: CNN let human beings be tortured and killed to keep their Baghdad bureau open)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: kattracks
bump
15 posted on 05/16/2003 4:36:29 AM PDT by RippleFire
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: oceanperch
Did too!
16 posted on 05/16/2003 4:36:57 AM PDT by metesky (My retirement fund is holding steady @ $.05 a can)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: oceanperch
Didtoo!
17 posted on 05/16/2003 4:37:26 AM PDT by metesky (My retirement fund is holding steady @ $.05 a can)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: kattracks
Born into the blue-blood Beardsley family, Fahnestock grew up riding horses and attending private schools with the children of other Jersey horse country aristocrats.

She was later enrolled in the exclusive Miss Porter's boarding school in Farmington, Conn

Eat your heart out, Bubba.

18 posted on 05/16/2003 4:40:02 AM PDT by Alouette (Why is it called "International Law" if it only applies to Israel and the United States?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: libertylover
Hold it against her? In Democratic circles she's more likely to be a celebrity - another one who "got away with it".

I think Mimi's "friend" Bitsy has already provided the quote you are seeking:

"Good for her," said Joan (Bitsy) Tatnall, 59. "She was a young girl, he's a glamorous guy. ... I think it was an adventure."

19 posted on 05/16/2003 4:40:44 AM PDT by Jim Noble
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: rabidralph
Caption for your picture:

"I went to the White House, had sex with President Kennedy.....and all I got was this lousy string of pearls!"

20 posted on 05/16/2003 4:49:10 AM PDT by albee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-42 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson