RIP Juan Romero: busboy who gave rosary to a dying RFK

He was in the news a few months ago, as the world marked the 50th anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination.

Now, sadly, he is in the news again:

On June 5, 1968, hotel busboy Juan Romero raced to congratulate Sen. Robert Kennedy moments after his victory in the California presidential primary. He had met the candidate the day before, bringing him room service at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

As Kennedy briefly paused to shake the hand of the 17-year-old, a man named Sirhan Sirhan gunned down Kennedy in front of Romero. A remarkable photograph captured the scene: young Romero, an immigrant from Mexico, cradling the glassy-eyed Kennedy, member of an American political dynasty.

Romero died on Monday at age 68. A friend, Rigo Chacon, told the Los Angeles Times that Romero had died following a heart attack he suffered a few days earlier.

Romero spoke to StoryCorps earlier this year and recounted the events of that night — a night that would haunt him for decades.

“I kneeled down to him and I could see his lips moving, so I put my ear next to his lips and I heard him say, ‘Is everybody OK?’ I said, ‘Yes, everybody’s OK.’ I put my hand between the cold concrete and his head just to make him comfortable.”

“I could feel a steady stream of blood coming through my fingers,” Romero said. “I remember I had a rosary in my shirt pocket and I took it out, thinking that he would need it a lot more than me. I wrapped it around his right hand and then they wheeled him away.”

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him…