From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries

https://apnews.com/article/joan-kennedy-dies-sen-edward-kennedy-3a3d8557ccb83fad3bdc0444a235e80c

BOSTON (AP) -- Joan B. Kennedy, the former wife of Sen. Edward
M. Kennedy who endured a troubled marriage marked by family
tragedies, her husband's infidelities and her own decades-long
struggles with alcoholism and mental health, died on Wednesday.
She was 89.

The former Joan Bennett, one of the last remaining 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 unimaginably over the next 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 attorney general under JFK, was
elected to the U.S. Senate in 1964 and assassinated while
seeking the presidency.

Her husband was elected to the U.S. Senate and became among
the country's most respected legislators despite initial
misgivings that he was capitalizing on his family connections.
But Ted Kennedy also lived through scandals of his own making.
In 1969, the car he was driving plunged off a bridge on
Chappaquiddick Island, killing his young female passenger, Mary
Jo Kopechne.

(Love the passive voice here. So, the *car* killed her? Pff.)

Kennedy, who swam to safety and waited hours before alerting
police, later pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident.
Chappaquiddick shadowed him for the rest of his life, weighing
against his own chances for the presidency.

Joan Kennedy had three children with her husband, but also had
miscarriages, including one shortly after the Chappaquiddick
accident. She stood by her husband through the scandal, but
their estrangement was nearly impossible to hide by the time
of his unsuccessful effort to defeat President Jimmy Carter in
the 1980 Democratic primaries. They had been separated by then,
and would later divorce. One bumper sticker from the campaign
read "Vote for Jimmy Carter, Free Joan Kennedy."

Virginia 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's
sister, at Manhattanville College, where her exceptional beauty
caught Ted Kennedy's eye when he visited the campus for a
building dedication in 1957.

They married a year later, but Joan Kennedy struggled from the
start to fit in to the high-powered family.

"Joan was shy and a really reserved person, and the Kennedys
aren't," Adam Clymer, author of "Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography"
said in an 2005 interview with the AP.

Her love of piano would be a trademark for much of her life.
She was known for opening her husband's 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.

In a 1992 Associated Press interview, she recalled playing
piano for brother-in-law Bobby when he ran for president in
1968. "He took me with him and encouraged me," she said. "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 said softly.

In a statement, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island
praised his mother for her courage and talent.

"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 statement said. "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 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 that she faced up
to her challenges with grace, courage, humility, and honesty,"
Ted Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. "She taught me how to be
more truthful with myself and how careful listening is a more
powerful communication skill than public speaking."

After Chappaquiddick, her drinking worsened. A series of drunken
driving arrests 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's care.

Kennedy is survived by her two sons, nine grandchildren and
other 30 nieces. Her daughter, Kara, died in 2011.
--
Mark Shaw moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm ========================================================================
"Anyway, we delivered the bomb."
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2