A small group of students, locals, and tourists gathered this afternoon at the Brookline birthplace of John F. Kennedy to share memories of the former president on the 51st anniversary of his assassination.
National Park Service rangers and the Rev. Dr. Jim Sherblom of the First Parish in Brookline addressed the crowd of about 20 people with poems and stories about Kennedy and laid a wreath in his honor.
Belen Garau, a tourist from Spain, stood shivering outside the house on Beals Street. Garau said she has long been interested in Kennedy.
“I always found him charismatic,” said Garau, 41. “Jackie and him were a very charismatic couple.”
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Garau recently visited Dallas, where she saw the site of Kennedy’s assassination. When she came to Boston to visit a friend, she discovered she would be near his birthplace on the day of the ceremony.
“I thought, ‘it’s a sign for me to come,’ ” Garau said.
The ceremony took a slightly different turn when the wreath arrived late. Instead of the wreath laying launching the event, it marked the end.
“It was a nice punctuation for the end of the ceremony,” said Myra Harrison, a NPS superintendent. “Maybe it will start a new tradition.”
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Melissa Hanson can be reached at melissa.hanson@globe.com or on Twitter @Melissa__Hanson.