| Rose Elizabeth Kennedy | |
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with Joe Jr. (c.1918) |
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| Born | Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald July 22, 1890 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | January 22, 1995 (aged 104) Hyannis, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Religion | Roman Catholic[1] |
| Spouse | Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. (1888-1969) |
| Children | Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (1915-1944) John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) Rosemary Kennedy (1918-2005) Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington (1920-1948) Eunice Kennedy Shriver (1921-2009) Patricia Kennedy Lawford (1924-2006) Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968) Jean Kennedy Smith (b.1928) Edward M. Kennedy (1932-2009) |
| Parents | Mary Josephine "Josie" Hannon Fitzgerald John Francis "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald |
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Rose Elizabeth Kennedy (née Fitzgerald; July 22, 1890 – January 22, 1995) was the wife of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and the mother of nine children, among them United States President John F. Kennedy, United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and United States Senator Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy.
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Born in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Rose Fitzgerald was the eldest child of John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald and his wife, who was also his second cousin,[2] Mary Josephine Hannon. "Honey Fitz" was a prominent figure in Boston politics and served one full term and almost eight months of another in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as two terms as the Mayor of Boston.
As a young child, Fitzgerald lived in an Italianate/Mansard-style home in the Ashmont Hill section of Dorchester, Massachusetts and attended the local Girl's Latin School. The home later burned down, but a plaque at Welles Avenue and Harley Street proclaims "Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Square". The plaque was dedicated by her son, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, on Rose's 102nd birthday in 1992.
Rose studied at the convent school Kasteel Bloemendal in Vaals, The Netherlands, and graduated from Dorchester High School in 1906. She also attended the New England Conservatory in Boston where she studied piano.[3] After being refused permission by her father to attend Wellesley College, Fitzgerald enrolled at the Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart (as it was known at that time). In 1908, Fitzgerald and her father embarked on a tour of Europe. She and "Honey Fitz" had a private audience with Pope Pius X at the Vatican.
On October 7, 1914, she married Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. after a courtship of more than seven years. They first lived in a home in Brookline that is now the John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site. Rose and Joseph had nine children.
Rose Kennedy was widowed in November 1969 by the death of her husband Joseph P. Kennedy. She outlived four of her nine children - Joseph Jr died in 1944, Kathleen in 1948, John in 1963 and Robert in 1968. The deaths of Edward Kennedy and Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 2009 left Jean (by then aged 81) as the last surviving child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy. Rose's mother died at the age of 98, just eight months after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Her husband provided well for her and their family, but was unfaithful. While eight months pregnant with their fourth child, Kennedy went back to her parents. When she got home her father clearly reminded her that she was Catholic and that they did not believe in divorce, so she was going to have to live with her choice of Joseph P. Kennedy for a husband. She went back to him, and presented a stoic outlook to one and all, in spite of his dalliances, one of which involved film star Gloria Swanson, who once said, "that Rose must be a saint, a fool, or just a better actress than me."
Rose considered the purpose of sex to be procreation and pretended that her husband's affairs were not taking place although she knew about them. She was medicated—her husband's biographer Ronald Kessler found records for prescription tranquilizers Seconal, Placidyl, Librium, and Dalmane to relieve Rose's nervousness and stress, and for her stomach, Lomotil, Bentyl, Librax and Tagamet.[4]
Rose Kennedy's strict Roman Catholic religion often placed her at odds with her children, most notably daughter Kathleen. She refused to attend Kathleen's wedding to William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, an Anglican and the eldest son and heir of the 10th Duke of Devonshire on May 6, 1944. Normal relations eventually resumed, particularly given the deaths of both Cavendish and Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., during World War II. When Lady Hartington herself died in a plane crash in 1948 (in which her new fiance, the 8th Earl FitzWilliam, a divorced Anglican, was also killed), only her father attended her funeral and burial at the Devonshire family seat, as he had already been in Europe planning to meet the Marchioness and her boyfriend.
Rosemary Kennedy died on January 7, 2005 at the age of 86, Patricia Kennedy Lawford died on September 17, 2006 at the age of 82, Eunice Kennedy Shriver died on August 11, 2009, aged 88, and Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy died on August 25, 2009, aged 77.
| Name | Birth | Death | Brief Biography | Marriage | Cause of death |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr. | July 25, 1915 | August 12, 1944 | United States Navy aviator | Naval airplane crash on August 12, 1944 over the English Channel | |
| John Fitzgerald Kennedy | May 29, 1917 | November 22, 1963 | United States Representative (1947–1953) United States Senator (1953–1960) President of the United States (1961–1963) |
September 12, 1953 to Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. | Assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. |
| Rosemary Kennedy | September 13, 1918 | January 7, 2005 | Underwent a lobotomy in 1941 which left her incapacitated; she was institutionalized from 1949 until her death. | Natural causes | |
| Kathleen Agnes Kennedy | February 20, 1920 | May 13, 1948 | Marchioness of Hartington | Married on May 6, 1944 to William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington. | Airplane crash over Saint-Bauzile, Ardèche, France. |
| Eunice Mary Kennedy | July 10, 1921 | August 11, 2009 | International advocate for the developmentally disabled. Founded the Special Olympics. | Married on May 23, 1953 to Robert Sargent Shriver. | Natural causes |
| Patricia Kennedy | May 6, 1924 | September 17, 2006 | Married on April 24, 1954 to British actor Peter Lawford; divorced in 1966. | Complications from pneumonia | |
| Robert Francis Kennedy | November 20, 1925 | June 6, 1968 | United States Attorney General (1961–1964), United States Senator (1965–1968) | Married on June 17, 1950 to Ethel Skakel. | Assassinated in 1968 in Los Angeles, California by Sirhan Sirhan. |
| Jean Ann Kennedy | February 20, 1928 | United States Ambassador to Ireland (1993–1998) | Married on May 19, 1956 to Stephen Edward Smith. | ||
| Edward Moore " Ted" Kennedy | February 22, 1932 | August 25, 2009 | United States Senator (1962–2009) | Married on November 29, 1958 to Virginia Joan Bennett; divorced on December 6, 1982. Remarried in 1992 to Victoria Anne Reggie. | Brain cancer |
In 1984, at the age of 94, Kennedy suffered a severe stroke and had to use a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
She maintained her residence at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts and was cared for by private nurses and staff. On January 22, 1995, Kennedy died from complications from pneumonia at the age of 104, outliving four of her nine children, her son-in-law Stephen Edward Smith, her daughter-in-law, Jackie Kennedy, and three grandchildren, David Anthony Kennedy, Arabella Kennedy and Patrick Bouvier Kennedy.
In 1951, Pope Pius XII granted Kennedy the title of Roman countess in recognition of her "exemplary motherhood and many charitable works."
In 1992, when she turned 102, the intersection of Welles Avenue and Harley Street in Boston was proclaimed "Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Square". The plaque was dedicated by her son, Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Also, the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, Massachusetts – the park that was created when the city's Central Artery was sunk below ground level in the "Big Dig" – was named after her on July 26, 2004.
Well-known for her philanthropic efforts and for leading the Grandparents' Parade at age 90 at the Special Olympics, Kennedy's life and work are documented in the Oscar-nominated short documentary Rose Kennedy: A Life to Remember.
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