BOSTON — Joan Kennedy, the former wife of Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, died at her home in Boston on Wednesday.
A Kennedy family spokesman said Joan passed away peacefully in her sleep. She was 89 years old.
Joan was married to Senator Kennedy for 24 years and was the mother to his three children, Kara, Ted, Jr., and Patrick.
The couple married in 1958, just as the Kennedys accelerated their political lives. By 1962, at the age of 25, she became the youngest wife of the youngest U.S. Senator ever elected.
Joan was also a classical pianist, music teacher, and advocate for mental health and addiction services.
“I will always admire my mother for the way that she faced up to her challenges with grace, courage, humility, and honesty. She taught me how to be more truthful with myself and how careful listening is a more powerful communication skill than public speaking,” Ted Kennedy, Jr. said in a statement.
Playing the piano became her trademark while campaigning with the Kennedys, opening political rallies and warming up the crowd with her piano serenades. She also regularly performed with orchestras all over the world.
She became one of the first prominent women in America to publicly acknowledge her struggles with alcoholism and depression, a move that she felt was essential to breaking the silence and tackling the taboo of addiction in the 1970s.
“Besides being a loving mother, talented musician, and instrumental partner to my father as he launched his successful political career, Mom was a powerful example to millions of people with mental health conditions. 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,” Patrick Kennedy said in a statement.
After her divorce from Senator Kennedy in 1982, she moved from Washington to Boston to escape the media spotlight, pursue a Master’s Degree in Musical Education from Lesley University, and became a music teacher.
She went on to be active with local Boston arts organizations, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra. John Williams, Conductor Laureate of the Boston Pops, said Joan will be greatly missed.
“Joan was an accomplished pianist and possessed an impressive knowledge of the classical music repertoire. Her dedication to the Boston Pops Orchestra, and especially to the young people of Boston, will have a lasting impact,” Williams said in a statement. “She will be greatly missed and will always be regarded as a member of our Boston Symphony Family,” said John Williams, Conductor Laureate of the Boston Pops."
Calling hours and the date and time of the funeral ceremony will be announced on the Carr Funeral Home website.
Ted Kennedy died on August 25, 2009.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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