Virginia Joan Kennedy ( Bennett, born September 2, 1936) is an American socialite who was the first wife of
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
.
Early life
Virginia Joan Bennett was born at
Mother Cabrini Hospital in New York City.
She was raised in a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
family,
in suburban
Bronxville, New York
Bronxville is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the town of Eastchester. The village comprises one square mile (2.5 km2) of land in its entirety, a ...
. Her parents were Harry Wiggin Bennett Jr. (1907–1981), and Virginia Joan Stead (1911–1976).
Her father was a graduate of
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
and later worked as an advertising executive. Bennett grew up with one younger sister, Candace "Candy," (born 1938). She attended
Manhattanville College
Manhattanville College is a private university in Purchase, New York. Founded in 1841 at 412 Houston Street in lower Manhattan, it was initially known as Academy of the Sacred Heart, then after 1847 as Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart ...
(then a Sacred Heart college), in
Purchase, New York
Purchase is a hamlet in the town and village of Harrison, in Westchester County, New York, United States. One myth explains that its name is derived from Harrison's purchase, where John Harrison was to be granted as much land as he could ride in ...
.
Manhattanville was also the alma mater of her future mother-in-law,
Rose Kennedy
Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy (July 22, 1890 – January 22, 1995) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and matriarch of the Kennedy family. She was deeply embedded in the " lace curtain" Irish American community in Boston. Her father ...
, as well as her future sisters-in-law
Jean Kennedy Smith
Jean Ann Kennedy Smith (February 20, 1928June 17, 2020) was an American diplomat, activist, humanitarian, and author who served as United States Ambassador to Ireland from 1993 to 1998. She was a member of the Kennedy family, the eighth of nine c ...
and
Ethel Skakel Kennedy. In 1982, Bennett received an MA in Education from Lesley College, now known as
Lesley University
Lesley University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. As of 2018-19 Lesley University enrolled 6,593 students (2,707 undergraduate and 3,886 graduate).
History ...
. As a teenager, she worked as a model in television advertising.
Marriage, family and divorce
In October 1957, at the dedication of a gymnasium at Manhattanville College in memory of another Kennedy sister,
Kathleen – who had died in a plane crash in France in 1948 – Jean Kennedy Smith introduced Joan to her younger brother Edward ( Ted), then a student at the
University of Virginia School of Law
The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...
in
Charlottesville
Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...
.
The couple became engaged quickly and Joan grew nervous about marrying someone she did not know that well. Joe Kennedy insisted that the wedding should proceed,
[Clymer, ''A Biography'', pp. 23–24.] and they were married on November 29, 1958, in
Bronxville, New York
Bronxville is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the town of Eastchester. The village comprises one square mile (2.5 km2) of land in its entirety, a ...
.
The small family wedding was held just a few weeks after Ted's older brother
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
won his landslide re-election for his
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
seat representing
in 1958. Joan had three children with Ted Kennedy:
Kara Kennedy
Kara Anne Kennedy (February 27, 1960 – September 16, 2011) was a member of the American political family, the Kennedy family. She was the oldest of the three children and only daughter of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts and Joan Be ...
(1960–2011),
Edward M. Kennedy Jr.
Edward Moore Kennedy Jr. (born September 26, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician. He is a partner at Epstein Becker & Green, a firm headquartered in New York City, and previously represented Connecticut's 12th State Senate district in th ...
(Ted Jr.) (b. 1961), and
Patrick J. Kennedy
Patrick Joseph Kennedy II (born July 14, 1967) is an American politician and mental health advocate. From 1995 to 2011, he served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Rhode Island's 1st congressional distr ...
(b. 1967).
Two of their children were cancer victims. Ted Jr. developed
bone cancer
A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thyro ...
at age 12, which resulted in the removal of a portion of his right leg in 1973, and Kara was treated for lung cancer in 2003. Daughter Kara Kennedy died of a heart attack at age 51 on September 16, 2011.
Ted suffered a severe back injury in a 1964 airplane crash, while campaigning for his first full Senate term. Joan assumed the full campaign-appearance schedule for his successful
re-election in 1964. He had earlier won a
special election in November 1962, to serve out the final two years of his brother John's Senate six-year term; John had resigned from the U.S. Senate upon his
November 1960 election as the 35th U.S. President.
In July 1969, Ted Kennedy was involved in a
car accident at a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts that resulted in the death of his passenger,
Mary Jo Kopechne
Mary Jo Kopechne (; July 26, 1940 – July 18 or 19, 1969) was an American secretary, and one of the campaign workers for U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign, a close team known as the "Boiler Room Girls". In 1969, she d ...
. Although pregnant and confined to bed in the wake of two previous
miscarriage
Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion and pregnancy loss, is the death of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks of gestation is defined by ESHRE as biochemical lo ...
s, Joan attended Kopechne's funeral. Three days later, she stood beside her husband in a local court when he pleaded guilty to
leaving the scene of an accident. She suffered a third miscarriage shortly thereafter.
![Joan Bennett Kennedy in Boston](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Joan_Bennett_Kennedy_in_Boston.jpg)
The couple separated in 1978 after twenty years of marriage. She subsequently told ''
McCall's
''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-f ...
'' magazine about her alcoholism and her work to stay sober. They remained together officially married during his failed
1980 U.S. presidential campaign, later announcing plans to divorce in 1981; the divorce was finalized in 1983.
Later life
In 1992, she published the book ''The Joy of Classical Music: A Guide for You and Your Family''. Kennedy has worked with children's charities, remains an accomplished pianist and has taught classical music to children.
Kennedy's later years have been shaped by chronic alcoholism, which had developed during her marriage. The alcohol problem escalated with sporadic, uneven sobriety, repeated drunk-driving arrests,
court-ordered
rehabilitation
Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to:
Health
* Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished
* Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...
,
and a return to drinking. This ultimately led to kidney damage, with the possibility of
dialysis and protracted complications. In July 2004, her son, Ted Jr., had been appointed her legal guardian; in 2005, her children were granted temporary guardianship. That year, she was hospitalized with a
concussion
A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, ...
and a broken shoulder after being found lying in a Boston street near her home.
In 2005, she requested that her second cousin,
financial planner
A financial planner or personal financial planner is a qualified financial advisor. Practicing in full service personal finance, they advise clients on investments, insurance, tax, retirement and estate planning.
As a general rule, a financial ...
Webster E. Janssen of
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
, establish a
trust
Trust often refers to:
* Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality
It may also refer to:
Business and law
* Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another
* Trust (bus ...
to control her
estate. This was in violation of her sons' guardianship. Her children later took successful legal action against Janssen, removing him as trustee and later filing a complaint against him with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
.
That October, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery. She agreed to strict court-ordered guardianship and her estate has since been placed in a new trust overseen by two court-appointed trustees.
Apart from a brief relationship shortly after her divorce, she has neither remarried nor pursued another relationship.
She attended Ted's funeral at the Kennedy compound in
Hyannis Port
Hyannis Port (or Hyannisport) is a small residential village located in Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. It is an affluent summer community on Hyannis Harbor, 1.4 miles (2.3 km) to the south-southwest of Hyannis.
Community
It has ...
.
Report by Susan Donaldson James for ''Good Morning America,'' ABC News, 28 August 2009
/ref> As of 2005, she resided in Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts, and Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
.
See also
*Kennedy family
The Kennedy family is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy be ...
* Kennedy family tree
The Kennedy family is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy be ...
Bibliography
*Kennedy, Joan Bennett (1992). ''The Joy of Classical Music: A Guide for You and Your Family''. Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, New York. .
References
Further reading
* Chellis, Marcia (1985). ''Living with the Kennedys: The Joan Kennedy Story''. Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
. .
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Joan Bennett
1936 births
American socialites
Joan Bennett
Joan Geraldine Bennett (February 27, 1910 – December 7, 1990) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She came from a show-business family, one of three acting sisters. Beginning her career on the stage, Bennett appeared in more t ...
Living people
Manhattanville College alumni
People from Barnstable, Massachusetts
Musicians from Boston
Spouses of Massachusetts politicians
Ted Kennedy
Writers from Massachusetts
Writers from the Bronx
Schools of the Sacred Heart alumni
Lesley University alumni
20th-century American pianists
Catholics from New York (state)
Catholics from Massachusetts
20th-century American women pianists