Ethel Kennedy<\/a>,\u00a0the wife of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, died at the age of 96, having raised their 11 children after he was assassinated, and remaining dedicated to social causes and the family\u2019s legacy for decades thereafter.<\/p>\nVirginia Joan Bennett was born into a prominent Bronxville, N.Y., family and as a teen she worked as a model in TV ads. She was a classmate of Jean Kennedy, the future senator\u2019s sister, at Manhattanville College, where her exceptional beauty caught Ted Kennedy\u2019s eye when he visited the campus for a building dedication in 1957.<\/p>\n
Joan Kennedy had three children. AP<\/p>\n
A classmate of her future sister-in-law, Jean Kennedy, Joan caught Ted Kennedy\u2019s eye when he visited Manhattanville College for a building dedication in 1957. AP<\/p>\n
They married a year later, but Joan Kennedy struggled from the start to fit in to the high-powered family.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoan was shy and a really reserved person, and the Kennedys aren\u2019t,\u201d Adam Clymer, author of \u201cEdward M. Kennedy: A Biography\u201d said in an 2005 interview with the AP.<\/p>\n
Her love of piano would be a trademark for much of her life. She was known for opening her husband\u2019s campaign rallies with a piano serenade and, after they divorced, touring with orchestras around the world. Her family said she would combine her masterful playing with a message about the transformational potential of the arts and the need for equitable arts education.<\/p>\n
Kennedy used her piano skills to advocate for the transformational potential of the arts and the need for equitable arts education. AP<\/p>\n
In a 1992 Associated Press interview, she recalled playing piano for brother-in-law Bobby when he ran for president in 1968. \u201cHe took me with him and encouraged me,\u201d she said. \u201cHe had a theme, \u2018This Land Is Your Land,\u2019 the Woody Guthrie song. I\u2019d play that on the piano and everybody would come in, feeling really great about everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like a long time ago, but it\u2019s part of my memories,\u201d she said, while promoting a book she wrote, which was a guide to appreciating classical music.<\/p>\n
She also talked in the interview about how music helped her get through some difficult times, including the deaths of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, when\u00a0her son Ted Jr.\u00a0lost his leg to cancer and her separation and divorce from Ted Kennedy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do advise listening to music when you\u2019re in grief,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cMusic has give me a lot of courage to carry on.\u201d AP<\/p>\n
\u201cI do advise listening to music when you\u2019re in grief,\u201d she said. \u201cMusic has give me a lot of courage to carry on.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, former\u00a0Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island\u00a0praised his mother for her courage and talent.<\/p>\n
Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island\u00a0praised his mother, calling her \u201ca power of example to millions of people with mental health conditions,\u201d in a statement. REUTERS<\/p>\n
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\u201cBesides 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,\u201d his statement said. \u201cShe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also became one of the first women to publicly acknowledge her struggles with alcoholism and depression.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will always admire my mother for the way that she faced up to her challenges with grace, courage, humility, and honesty,\u201d Ted Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. \u201cShe taught me how to be more truthful with myself and how careful listening is a more powerful communication skill than public speaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy had been open about her struggles with alcoholism and depression. AP<\/p>\n
After Chappaquiddick, her drinking worsened. A series of drunken driving arrests<\/a> led to stays in alcohol treatment programs. Then in 2005, a passerby found her passed out on a Boston sidewalk in the rain, and she was hospitalized with a concussion and broken shoulder. Her children intervened, with Ted Jr. obtaining a court-ordered guardianship for his mother\u2019s care.<\/p>\nMaria Shriver praised her cousins for doing \u201ca great job caring for her, respecting her privacy, and loving her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe courageously shared what it was like to lose a child, get divorced from a famous man, and carry on. Her life was challenging, but she persevered,\u201d the daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Sargent Shriver posted in a eulogy for her aunt. \u201cAs a young girl, I marveled at her grace, her beauty, her elegance. As a woman, I respected her grit, her resilience, her perseverance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joan Kennedy is survived by her two sons, nine grandchildren, a great-grandchild and nearly 30 nieces and nephews. Her daughter, Kara, died in 2011.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON (AP) \u2014 Joan B. Kennedy, the former wife of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy who endured a troubled…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":288302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[185,4446,171,59361,11656,593,148174,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-288301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-death","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-kennedys","12":"tag-obits","13":"tag-obituaries","14":"tag-ted-kennedy","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115342269897907225","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}