ST. PAUL — University of Minnesota students will create a floral “grave blanket” Thursday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

The students are in a floral design class in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences on the St. Paul campus.

Grave blankets are a tradition in some parts of the country that provides grieving families a way to decorate loved ones’ graves for the cold winter.

The one honoring Kennedy’s life will include a variety of flowers, newspaper clippings and photographs arranged on a 3-foot by 15-foot frame that will be displayed for public viewing.

The project is under the direction of horticulture professor Neil Anderson, who has overseen similar blankets in the past, including one for victims of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse.