BOSTON– BOSTON (AP) — Joan B. Kennedy, the former wife of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy who endured a difficult marriage marked by family tragedies, her husband’s infidelities and her own decades-long struggles with alcoholism and mental health, died Wednesday. She was 89 years old.
The former Joan Bennett, one of the last members of a family generation that included President John F. Kennedy, was a model and classically trained pianist when she married Ted Kennedy in 1958.
Their lives would change in unimaginable ways over the next fifteen years. His brother-in-law John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960 and assassinated three years later. His brother-in-law, Robert F. Kennedy, served as attorney general under JFK, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1964 and assassinated while running for president.
Her husband was elected to the U.S. Senate and became one of the country’s most respected lawmakers, despite initial fears that he was capitalizing on his family connections. But Ted Kennedy also experienced scandals that he himself had caused. In 1969, the car he was driving plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, killing his young passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.
Kennedy, who swam to safety and waited hours before alerting police, later pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. Chappaquiddick followed him for the rest of his life, weighing on his own chances of becoming president.
Joan Kennedy had three children with her husband, but also suffered miscarriages, including one shortly after the Chappaquiddick accident. She supported her husband throughout the scandal, but their separation was almost impossible to hide by the time of his unsuccessful effort to defeat President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 Democratic primaries. They were separated by then and would later divorce. A campaign bumper sticker read, “Vote for Jimmy Carter, Free Joan Kennedy.”
His love of the piano would be a hallmark for much of his life. She was known for opening her husband’s campaign rallies with a piano serenade and, after their divorce, for touring with orchestras around the world. Her family said she would combine her masterful playing with a message about the transformative potential of the arts and the need for equitable arts education.
In a 1992 interview with The Associated Press, she recalled playing piano for her brother-in-law Bobby when he ran for president in 1968. “He took me with him and encouraged me,” she said. “It had a theme, ‘This Land Is Your Land,’ the Woody Guthrie song. I was playing that on the piano and everyone was coming in, feeling really good about everything.”
“It seems distant, but it’s part of my memories,” she said softly.
In a statement, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island praised his mother for her courage and talent.
“In addition to being a loving mother, a talented musician and an instrumental partner to my father as he launched his successful political career, Mom was an example to millions of people suffering from mental health issues,” her statement said. “She will be missed not only by the entire Kennedy family, but also by the artistic community of the city of Boston and the many people whose lives she touched.”
She also became one of the first women to publicly acknowledge her struggles with alcoholism and depression.
“I will always admire my mother for the way she faced her challenges with grace, courage, humility and honesty,” Ted Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. “She taught me to be more honest with myself and how attentive listening is a more powerful communication skill than public speaking.”
Virginia Joan Bennett was born into a prominent family in Bronxville, New York, and when she was a teenager, she worked as a model in television commercials. She was a classmate of Jean Kennedy, the future senator’s sister, at Manhattanville College, where her exceptional beauty caught the attention of Ted Kennedy when he visited the campus for a building dedication in 1957.
They married a year later, but Joan Kennedy struggled from the start fitting into the high-power family.
“Joan was shy and a very reserved person, and the Kennedys are not,” Adam Clymer, author of “Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography” said in a 2005 interview with the AP.
Kennedy is survived by her two sons, nine grandchildren and 30 other nieces. His daughter, Kara, died in 2011.
