Joan Kennedy, first wife of senator Edward Kennedy, died

Boston – BOSTON (AP) – Joan B. Kennedy, the former wife of Senator Edward Mr. Kennedy who endured a disturbed marriage marked by family tragedies, her husband’s infidelities and her own struggles for several decades with alcoholism and mental health, died on Wednesday. She was 89 years old.

Former Joan Bennett, one of the last members of a family generation who included President John F. Kennedy, was a model and a classic pianist when she married Ted Kennedy in 1958.

Their lives would unimaginely change during the next and a half decade. The brother-in-law John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960 and murdered three years later. The brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy was a general prosecutor within the framework of JFK, was elected to the American Senate in 1964 and murdered as he asked for the presidency.

Her husband was elected to the American Senate and became among the most respected legislators in the country despite the initial reluctance he capitalized on on his family relationships. But Ted Kennedy also experienced scandals of its own manufacture. In 1969, the car he was driving plunged a bridge on the island of Chappaquiddick, killing his young passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.

Kennedy, who swam safely and waited a few hours before alerting the police, then pleaded guilty to have left the scene of an accident. Chappaquiddick shaded 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 made false layers, including a little time after the chappaquiddick accident. She stood near her husband through the scandal, but their distance was almost impossible to hide at the time of her unsuccessful effort to defeat President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 democratic primaries. They had been separated at that time and would divorce later. A campaign bumper sticker said “Vote for Jimmy Carter, free Joan Kennedy”.

Virginia Joan Bennett was born in an eminent Bronxville, NY, her family and as an adolescent, she worked as a model in television advertisements. She was classmate of Jean Kennedy, the future sister of the senator, at Manhattanville College, where her exceptional beauty drew the attention of Ted Kennedy when he visited the campus for a building dedication in 1957.

They got married a year later, but Joan Kennedy had trouble from the start to integrate into the great power family.

“Joan was shy and a really reserved person, and the Kennedys are not,” said Adam Clymer, author of “Edward M. Kennedy: a biography” in an interview of 2005 with the AP.

His love of the piano would be a trademark for a large part of his life. She was known for having opened her husband’s campaign gatherings with a piano serenade and, after divorced, on tour with orchestras from around the world. Her family said that she would combine her masterful game with a message on the transformational potential of the arts and the need for an equitable artistic education.

In an interview with the Associated Press in 1992, she remembers playing the piano for the brother-in-law Bobby when he presented himself to the presidency in 1968. “He took me with him and encouraged me,” she said. “He had a theme,” this earth is your land “, the song Woody Guthrie. I would play it on the piano and everyone came, feeling really well in everything.”

“It seems a long time ago, but it is one of my memories,” she said gently.

In a press release, former representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island congratulated his mother for his courage and talent.

“In addition to being a loving mother, a talented musician and an instrumental partner of my father when he launched his successful political career, mom was an example of millions of people with mental health problems,” said her statement. “We will not only miss the whole Kennedy family, but also by the artistic community of the city of Boston and by the many people whose life they have touched.”

She also became one of the first women to publicly recognize her difficulties with alcoholism and depression.

“I will always admire my mother for the way she was confronted with her challenges with grace, courage, humility and honesty,” said Ted Kennedy Jr. in a statement. “She taught me to be more honest with myself and how much listening is a more powerful communication skill than speaking in public.”

After Chappaquiddick, his drink worsened. A series of driving driving arrests has 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 a broken shoulder. His children intervened, Ted Jr. obtaining a guardianship commanded by the court for the guard of his mother.

Kennedy is survived by his two sons, nine grandchildren and 30 other nieces. Her daughter, Kara, died in 2011.