NEW YORK (AP) – A wristwatch that is believed to have been used to declare
the time of President John F. Kennedy’s death is going on the auction block in
New York City.
The 18-carat Patek Philippe timepiece is estimated to bring up to $150,000
at Christie’s on Dec. 17. The stopwatch (above) was made in 1948 and was
purchased for Dr. Kemp Clark by his mother in Switzerland a year later for
$750.
Clark was one of several attending physicians at Parkland Memorial Hospital
in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, when president Kennedy entered the ER. He was
pronounced dead at 1 p.m. by referring to the watch, according to his family,
and signed the death certificate.
"There is endless debate among historians on the actual time of death and
there was most likely also a clock in the ER," said John Reardon, Christie’s
international co-head of watches. "However, the family and historians agree
to these facts: the watch was on his wrist that day and he called the time of
death and signed the death certificate."
A portion of the proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Red Cross.
Dr. William Kemp Clark (1925-2007)
Tim Maguire
Bo Derek (Mary Cathleen Collins)
Derek is a film and television actress, movie producer, and model perhaps
best known for her role in the 1979 film 10. The movie also launched a
bestselling poster for Derek in a swimsuit, and subsequently she became
one of the most popular sex symbols in the 1980s. Bo Derek is national
honorary chairperson for Veterans Affairs‘ National Rehabilitation Special
Events.
The cast of “The Goldbergs” during rehearsal of the popular radio show
The program debuted on the NBC Blue Network as “The Rise of the Goldbergs”,
later known as “The Goldbergs” when it moved to CBS in 1936. It was devised by
writer-actress Gertrude Berg as a domestic comedy featuring the home life of a
Jewish tenement family, supposedly located in the Bronx. In addition to writing
the scripts and directing each episode, Berg starred as the Jewish matriarch
Molly Goldberg.
Gertrude Berg
