Kennedy clan gathers to say goodbye to Joan Kennedy, last of old guard

Dozens of members of the Kennedy family gathered in Boston on Wednesday to mourn the death of Joan Bennett Kennedy at a Catholic Mass at St. Anthony’s Shrine.

The first wife of the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, who reportedly died in her sleep at age 89, was remembered for her complicated legacy — one marked by addiction, music and political dynasty.

“It's no secret that she had a complicated life, you know, her troubles with alcohol. But for us she was our grandmother,” Edward Kennedy III told reporters after the funeral.

He said he was grateful to the city of Boston for “embracing her when she was recreating herself and her life,” after her divorce from Ted Kennedy in 1982.

Hundreds attended the downtown service Wednesday, including former U.S. Congressman Joe Kennedy III and current U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who served as a pallbearer.

The latter Kennedy has faced calls from the younger Kennedy — and other members of the family — to resign over anti-vaccine views that he said threaten “the health and wellbeing of every American.”

But inside the event, Ted Kennedy Jr. said the focus was on celebrating his mother’s life.

“We're feeling really, really blessed and I'm so glad that so many of my family members were here today,” the former Connecticut state senator told reporters.

Several attendees said the most moving moment of the day came when Ted Kennedy Jr. told a story from his childhood. At age 12, he'd faced bone cancer that resulted in the amputation of his right leg.

Joan Kennedy “gave him permission to cry because he was told to be strong,” said friend Helen O’Neill. “And he said, ‘I cried for the rest of the day'.”

Outside of being a mother to three, grandmother to nine, great-grandmother to one, and aunt to nearly 30 nieces and nephews, Kennedy also was recognized as a classical pianist and music teacher. According to her obituary, she advocated for arts education funding and regularly performed with orchestras around the world.

“Her musical talent was a unique gift which she loved to share,” the obituary says. “She made her orchestral solo piano debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1970.”

Kennedy’s second son, former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, also gave a eulogy before the service ended in song.

“Hearing this eulogy and all that she did, her life was so much more than her struggles,” said Molly Visnic, a longtime friend of Ted Kennedy Jr.

Many of Joan Kennedy’s struggles, which included arrests on charges of drunken driving, were made worse by her time in the spotlight, she told a biographer.

Kennedy publicly stood by her husband in 1969, when he drove off a one-lane bridge on Chappaquiddick Island. His passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, was killed in the accident.

After Joan Kennedy battled alcoholism and mental health issues for decades, her children became her temporary legal guardians in 2005.

The Mass was held at St. Anthony’s, a humble streetfront church, because Kennedy used to attend Mass there.

“ She's got a lot of programs here, things of that nature. And she was always here on Saturday night at 5:30,” said Jack Donahue, who knew Kennedy from Hyannisport. He said throughout the service, he felt the “humanness” of the famous Kennedy clan, whose heyday Joan was an integral part of.

“I mean, for those of us who grew up here, they were royalty,” he said. “And this is the last living legacy, technically, of Camelot.”