On This Day...July 28

CEBU, Philippines - ¦ In 1929, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was born in Southampton, New York, the daughter of “Black Jack” Bouvier, a hard-drinking banker. Though her first ambition was to be a trapeze artist when she graduated from school, her yearbook profile listed her ambition as “not to be a housewife.” In fact, of course, she became the First Housewife of America, and received so much attention that Jack Kennedy introduced himself to the French press as “the man who brought Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris.” Married first to one of the most powerful men in the world, and then Aristotle Onassis, one of the richest, her ability to spend is legend. In one year in the White House she bought and wore more than 400 different outfits!

¦ In 1750, blind composer Johann Sebastian Bach died of an apoplectic stroke. Years of close copying had destroyed his vision but, inexplicably, his sight was restored during his last ten days on earth. Many of his manuscripts were later lost – though his immortal St. Matthew Passion was rescued from a cheese-monger who was about to use it as wrapping paper. His last composition was a hymn entitled “When in the Hour of Utmost Need,” and just before he died he renamed it “Before Thy Throne O Lord I Come.” — from Today’s the Day! By Jeremy Beadle

In Christian history

¦ In 1648, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland adopts the Westminster Shorter Catechism. This document, as well as the Westminster Larger Catechism, both compiled in 1647, have been in regular use among Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Baptists ever since.

— from This Day in Christian History By William D. Blake

In the Philippines

¦ In 1963, 24 Boy Scouts and scouting officials, delegates of the Philippines to the 11th Boy Scout World Jamboree in Marathon, Greece, perished in an airplane crash of a United Arab Airlines (now EgyptAir) jetliner in the Bay of Bombay, India. The delegation took a KLM flight for Hong Kong to catch a connecting United Arab Airlines flight to Athens, Greece. The Egyptian airliner, a British-made Comet jetliner had a stopover in Bangkok, Thailand on the night of July 27, 1963. The ill-fated plane carried 52 passengers and eight crewmembers, including the 24 Filipino boy scouts and scout officials. Only the bodies of Jose Delgado, Henry Chuatoco, Roberto Castor, Ascario Tuason, Jr., and Librado Fernandez were positively identified from among the human remains recovered in the Bay of Bombay. Aviation authorities were not able to ascertain conclusively the cause of the accident. Sabotage was ruled out, though.

— www.kahimyang.info

In Cebu

¦ In 1900, the residents of Borbon, Cebu through their town council, filed a formal protest against the American occupation of their town.

¦ In 1952, the first issue of popular Cebuano magazine, “Alimyon,” came off the press.

— from Cebuano Studies Center, University of San Carlos (FREEMAN)