Rose Kennedy
Rose Kennedy | |
---|---|
Countess of the Holy Roman Church | |
Known for | Kennedy family matriarch |
Born | Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald July 22, 1890 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Died | January 22, 1995 Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, U.S. | (aged 104)
Buried | Holyhood Cemetery Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Spouse(s) | |
Issue | |
Parents | John Francis Fitzgerald Mary Josephine Hannon |
Signature |
Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy (July 22, 1890 – January 22, 1995) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and matriarch of the
Early life
Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald was born on July 22, 1890, at 4 Garden Court
At age 7, she moved with her family to
Fitzgerald studied at the convent school Kasteel Bloemendal in
In 1908, Fitzgerald and her father embarked on a tour of Europe and had a private audience with Pope
Marriage and family life
In her teens, Rose became acquainted with her future husband, Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, whom she met while their families were vacationing in Maine. He was the elder son of businessman/politician Patrick Joseph "P.J." Kennedy (a political rival of Honey Fitz) and Mary Augusta Hickey. Kennedy would go on to court Fitzgerald for more than seven years, much to her father's disapproval.
On October 7, 1914, at age 24, she married Kennedy in a modest ceremony at the small chapel of the residence of
Joseph provided well for their family, but he was
Rose Kennedy was a strict Catholic[5] throughout her life. Even after her 100th birthday, she rarely missed Sunday Mass and maintained an "extremely prudish" exterior. Her strict beliefs often placed her at odds with her children.[6] Jacqueline Kennedy described her mother-in-law in her correspondence to Father Joseph Leonard, an Irish priest: "I don't think Jack's mother is too bright – and she would rather say a rosary than read a book."[7]
Kennedy stated that she felt completely fulfilled as a full-time homemaker. In her 1974 autobiography, Times to Remember, she wrote, "I looked on child rearing not only as a work of love and duty but as a profession that was fully as interesting and challenging as any honorable profession in the world and one that demanded the best I could bring to it..... What greater aspiration and challenge are there for a mother than the hope of raising a great son or daughter?"[8] According to one of her servants, Frank Saunders, she was self-centered, stingy, prudish, and often spiteful.[9]
Children
Name | Birth | Death | Marriage and children |
---|---|---|---|
Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy Jr. | July 25, 1915 | August 12, 1944 | Never married and did not have children |
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy | May 29, 1917 | November 22, 1963 | Married in 1953, to hyaline membrane disease after 2 days (Patrick Bouvier Kennedy ).
|
Rose Marie "Rosemary" Kennedy | September 13, 1918 | January 7, 2005 | Never married and did not have children |
Kathleen Agnes "Kick" Kennedy | February 20, 1920 | May 13, 1948 | Married in 1944, to William John Robert Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, never had children |
Eunice Mary Kennedy | July 10, 1921 | August 11, 2009 | Married in 1953, to Robert Sargent "Sarge" Shriver Jr., had five children |
Patricia Helen "Pat" Kennedy | May 6, 1924 | September 17, 2006 | Married in 1954, to English actor Peter Sydney Ernest Lawford, had four children; divorced in 1966 |
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy | November 20, 1925 | June 6, 1968 | Married in 1950, to Ethel Skakel, had eleven children |
Jean Ann Kennedy | February 20, 1928 | June 17, 2020 | Married in 1956, to Stephen Edward Smith, had two sons and adopted two daughters |
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy | February 22, 1932 | August 25, 2009 | Married in 1958, to Virginia Joan Bennett, had three children; divorced in 1982. Remarried in 1992 to Victoria Anne Reggie; had no children |
Later years and death
After her son John was elected president in 1960, Rose "became a sort of quiet celebrity" and appeared on the
After suffering a stroke in 1984, she used a wheelchair for the remaining 11 years of her life. Kennedy maintained her residence at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, and was cared for by private nurses and staff. She turned 100 years old on July 22, 1990. Kennedy died from complications from pneumonia at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port on January 22, 1995, aged 104.[10]
Legacy
In 1951,
The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge in Ireland is named after her. As of its 2020 opening, it is the longest bridge in Ireland.[citation needed]
Written works
- Kennedy, Rose Fitzgerald (1974). Times To Remember. Doubleday and Company. ISBN 9780385016254.[14]
- Kennedy, Rose Fitzgerald (1995). Times To Remember. Doubleday and Company. ISBN 978-0-38547-657-7.[15]
References
- ^ "Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy | JFK Library".
- ^ "North End Walk: N5: Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Birthplace: 4 Garden Court". Boston Women's Heritage Trail. February 22, 2001. Archived from the original on February 22, 2001. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ^ Goodwin, Doris Kearns (2001). The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga. Simon and Schuster. pp.88–89.
- ISBN 0-446-60384-8. pp. 318, 372–373.
- ^ "Biography: Rose Kennedy". American Experience. PBS. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
- ^ a b Hodgson, Godfrey (January 24, 1995). "Obituary: Rose Kennedy". The Independent. Archived from the original on July 1, 2014.
- ^ Letters from Jackie, The Irish Times, May 13, 2014
- ISBN 978-0385476577. pp. 66, 70.
- ^ Reeves, Thomas C. (1991). A Question of Character. Free Press. p. 32.
- ^ Robert D. McFadden (January 23, 1995). "Rose Kennedy, Political Matriarch, Dies at 104". The New York Times.
- ^ "Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy". John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
- ^ "NY Times: Rose Kennedy: A Life to Remember". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
- ISBN 978-0-393-06895-5p. 257
- ^ Times To Remember 1974 edition. January 1974. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
- ISBN 0385476574.
Further reading
- Nasaw, David. The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy (2012), scholarly biography of her husband
- Perry, Barbara A. Rose Kennedy: The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch (W.W. Norton & Company; 2013)
- Shriver, Timothy. "Fully Alive: Discovering What Matters Most," (Sarah Crichton Books-Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014)