BOSTON (AP) — Joan B. Kennedy, the previous spouse of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy who endured a troubled marriage marked by household tragedies, her husband’s infidelities and her personal decades-long struggles with alcoholism and psychological well being, died on Wednesday. She was 89.
The previous Joan Bennett, one of many final remaining members of a household technology that included President John F. Kennedy, was a mannequin and classically-trained pianist when she married Ted Kennedy in 1958.
Their lives would change unimaginably over the following decade and a half. Brother-in-law John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960 and assassinated three years later. Brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy served as legal professional common beneath JFK, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1964 and assassinated whereas looking for the presidency.
Her husband was elected to the U.S. Senate and have become among the many nation’s most revered legislators regardless of preliminary misgivings that he was capitalizing on his household connections. However Ted Kennedy additionally lived by way of scandals of his personal making. In 1969, the automobile he was driving plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, killing his younger feminine passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.
Kennedy, who swam to security and waited hours earlier than alerting police, later pleaded responsible to leaving the scene of an accident. Chappaquiddick shadowed him for the remainder of his life, weighing towards his personal probabilities for the presidency.
Joan Kennedy had three youngsters along with her husband, but additionally had miscarriages, together with one shortly after the Chappaquiddick accident. She stood by her husband by way of the scandal, however their estrangement was practically inconceivable to cover by the point of his unsuccessful effort to defeat President Jimmy Carter within the 1980 Democratic primaries. They’d been separated by then, and would later divorce. One bumper sticker from the marketing campaign learn “Vote for Jimmy Carter, Free Joan Kennedy.”
Her love of piano can be a trademark for a lot of her life. She was recognized for opening her husband’s marketing campaign rallies with a piano serenade and, after they divorced, touring with orchestras all over the world. Her household stated she would mix her masterful enjoying with a message in regards to the transformational potential of the humanities and the necessity for equitable arts training.
In a 1992 Related Press interview, she recalled enjoying piano for brother-in-law Bobby when he ran for president in 1968. “He took me with him and encouraged me,” she stated. “He had a theme, ‘This Land Is Your Land,’ the Woody Guthrie song. I’d play that on the piano and everybody would come in, feeling really great about everything.”
“It seems like a long time ago, but it’s part of my memories,” she stated softly.
In an announcement, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island praised his mom for her braveness and expertise.
“Besides being a loving mother, talented musician, and instrumental partner to my father as he launched his successful political career, Mom was a power of example to millions of people with mental health conditions,” his assertion stated. “She will be missed not just by the entire Kennedy Family, but by the arts community in the City of Boston and the many people whose lives that she touched.”
She additionally turned one of many first ladies to publicly acknowledge her struggles with alcoholism and melancholy.
“I will always admire my mother for the way that she faced up to her challenges with grace, courage, humility, and honesty,” Ted Kennedy Jr. stated in an announcement. “She taught me how to be more truthful with myself and how careful listening is a more powerful communication skill than public speaking.”
Virginia Joan Bennett was born right into a outstanding Bronxville, N.Y., household and as a teen she labored as a mannequin in TV adverts. She was a classmate of Jean Kennedy, the long run senator’s sister, at Manhattanville Faculty, the place her distinctive magnificence caught Ted Kennedy’s eye when he visited the campus for a constructing dedication in 1957.
They married a yr later, however Joan Kennedy struggled from the beginning to slot in to the high-powered household.
“Joan was shy and a really reserved person, and the Kennedys aren’t,” Adam Clymer, creator of “Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography” stated in an 2005 interview with the AP.
Kennedy is survived by her two sons, 9 grandchildren and different 30 nieces. Her daughter, Kara, died in 2011.
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