Factnet posting by "eaglebeak," 04-19-2008, 08:14 AM
One year ago today (Thursday, April 19, 2007), Ken Kronberg's funeral was held at St. James Episcopal Church in Leesburg, Virginia.
It was attended by a huge crowd--Labor Committee members, ex-Labor Committee members, family of Ken and Molly, friends of Ken and Molly and Max who had nothing to do with the org, business associates of Ken's, former employees of Ken's, people from the Kronbergs' neighborhood.
The church was packed. Even with folding chairs in the aisles, it was standing room only.
Perhaps everyone associated with the org--those who hated it and those who loved it--knew they were attending its funeral too, that Ken Kronberg had pulled the plug on Lyndon LaRouche.
The one person who wasn't there, of course, was Lyndon LaRouche.
He is a most consummate coward.
Also, it is rumored that the night before the funeral Molly Kronberg had
called up Nancy Spannaus and said "If that man comes, I leave the
church."
However, there was no chance he would come, and Molly must have known it. I think she just wanted to be very, very sure.
Jeff Steinberg later said to Molly, I'm told, "yeah yeah, absolutely, understand completely--wouldn't want Ken to be overshadowed by having Lyn there. It was important to have Ken the center of attention. Sure, definitely."
That's Jeff--always ready to agree with anyone. It's been his ticket to the "top."
I have saved the leaflet from Ken's funeral for the past year. For those of you who didn't go, for those of you who didn't know Ken from Adam, let me give you a rundown of the funeral service.
Almost all the poems, music, and Scripture readings had been chosen by Ken several years before; he had told son Max and wife Molly during a long car ride, and Max had written them down--as reported in the funeral sermon by the Rev. John Ohmer.
Poems and Psalms:
Psalm 3, the translation/rendition by John Milton. It starts: "Lord, how many are my foes!"
Psalm 23
"The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus--the poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty. Read by Ken's brother Richard. This poem conveys much about the Kronberg family and the New World.
"Ode to the West Wind" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Read by Ken's son Max.
The Lord's Prayer--Ken often said it was his favorite prayer, "it's a good Jewish prayer."
Sonnet 154 by William Shakespeare--the last of Shakespeare's Sonnet Cycle, the one that ends "Love's fire heats water, water cools not love."
The first reading of the service was from the Book of Job:
I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though this body be destroyed, yet shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger.
Next came a reading from the Book of Wisdom (3:1-5, 9). That starts:
The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery. And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace. For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality. And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded....
There was also 1 Corinthians 13:1-13--the whole reading, not the usually truncated one. Read in the King James version.
Sander F said the Jewish prayer for the dead, Kaddish, which was printed on facing pages English/Hebrew (or possibly Aramaic), because Ken was a Cohen (of the priestly line), and so is Sander.
The music included:
Beethoven's variations for Cello and Piano on "See the Conqu'ring Hero Comes" from Handel's Judas Maccabaeus
"Abendempfindung K 523," by Mozart
Hymns: "Abide with Me" and "Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain"
So, on this first anniversary of his funeral, we remember Ken with love, and we look on LaRouche with a profound distaste.
To put it mildly.