EAGLE PASS, Texas — The family link that connects the mother of a man who recently identified himself as John F. Kennedy's son to the former president has its dusty roots in this scrubby town on the southern border of Texas.
It was here, in the late 1930s, over country-club visits and long lunches across the Rio Grande at the famous El Moderno restaurant, that Lyndon Johnson began his friendship with Robert Bibb, a fierce Democrat and county judge whose 22-year political career cemented his reputation as a local legend.
Bibb, who gave up his seat in 1964, kept strong ties to Johnson when he assumed the presidency after Kennedy's assassination in 1963. It is well known that the judge even spent nights at the White House, his son Gravis told the Toronto Globe and Mail.
However, family members of the late judge say they were stunned to learn this week that there might be a second connection between the Bibbs and the White House, one that runs deeper than the judge's.
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Jack R. Worthington, the secretive, British Columbia-based Texan who has requested DNA testing to prove he is Kennedy's son, hinted in a statement to the Globe and Mail last week that a key pillar of his story lies in the historical connections between his mother's paternal relatives and Johnson.
Worthington has been working with Vanity Fair magazine for the past 18 months on a story involving his claims, but publication was stalled after a member of the Kennedy family raised concerns, the New York Post recently reported. In the wake of that coverage, Worthington approached the Globe and Mail to tell his story.
Although he agreed to reveal his identity, Worthington has been cautious in interviews and is reluctant to answer the most glaring questions posed by his tale. He refuses to speak about his mother, Mary Evelyn Bibb Worthington, and will not discuss the details of her alleged encounter with Kennedy.
Barr McClellan, a former Kennedy supporter and a Johnson-administration lawyer who recently published a conspiracy-theory book that posits an involvement by Johnson in Kennedy's assassination, said the encounter is not beyond the realm of possibility.
"In Washington, Johnson was very much a woman chaser. We knew that he could make women available and did for Jack (Kennedy). JFK had a similar attraction to and for young women," he said, adding: "Making the connection from Johnson and his allies or family friends rests with Jack."
Mary Worthington, who was widowed last May when her husband, also named Jack R. Worthington, succumbed to emphysema, did not answer the door at her Houston home this week. Her daughter, Houston socialite Nancy Littlejohn, threatened to call police to her home in the posh River Oaks district when approached by a reporter.
The Globe and Mail has interviewed several family members and former classmates of Mary Worthington as part of an ongoing investigation into her son's claims. While all confirm the family's political connections to Johnson — Worthington is Judge Bibb's niece — no one can recall for certain whether Worthington, an only child born here in 1941, was specifically introduced to Johnson or Kennedy.
"Lyndon Johnson spent the night at our house and my father spent the night in the White House," said Gravis Bibb, the judge's son. "My father was a very, very good friend of LBJ. They were buddies going way back."
Bibb, a teacher in Eagle Pass, said he does not know whether Worthington encountered Kennedy — who never made an official visit to Eagle Pass — let alone via connections of Johnson.
"She would have been someone Kennedy would have looked at," he said. "I don't know how the hell they could have met."
Bibb, who was close with Worthington growing up, escorted his cousin to the senior prom at Eagle Pass High School.
"Her father wouldn't let her go with anyone else. My uncle was overly protective," he said, adding: "Hell, she was a beautiful woman."
In 1958 yearbook photos taken during her senior year, Worthington's features, accented by long, wavy brown hair and a petite waist, are reminiscent of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Her popularity is evident: she was voted Homecoming Princess and was a runner-up for the school's Most Beautiful Competition. She was also a band twirler, head majorette and part of the Future Teachers of America Club.
After graduation, Worthington enrolled in Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos to get her teaching degree, cousin Daisy Diaz said. She also kept up her extracurricular activities, joining the dance team.
