Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (July 22, 1890 – January 22, 1995) married into the Kennedy family and became its matriarch in the 20th century, when its members helped shape American politics.

Rose holding Joe Jr, circa 1918

She was born Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, and died at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. She was the eldest child of John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, a prominent figure in Boston politics who served one term as a member of Congress and later became the city's mayor.

The family lived for a time at 39 Welles Avenue, in the Ashmont Hill section of Dorchester, Massachusetts while she attended the local Girl's Latin School. The Victorian, mansard-style home, largest on the street, later burned down. A marker is there, at Welles Avenue and Harley Street, naming it "Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Square". The placement was celebrated by her son, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in 1992, on Rose's 102nd birthday.

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy graduated from Dorchester High School in 1906 and then attended the New England Conservatory in Boston, studying piano[1]. After her graduation she then enrolled at the Manhattanville College for the Sacred Heart (as it was known at that time), as she was prohibited from attending the secular Wellesley College that she wished to attend, and became her father's travelling companion, visiting many countries in Europe in 1908, and also the newly built Panama Canal.

She married Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. on October 7, 1914, after a courtship of more than 7 years, and they lived in nearby Brookline, in a house that is now a national historic landmark. She bore him 9 children, 4 of whom predeceased their parents.

At her death from complications of pneumonia at the age of 104 in 1995, Rose Kennedy was the longest-lived Presidential relative in history. She was also the oldest resident of Barnstable, Massachusetts (population: 55,000), where she was residing at the time of her death. She was well-known for her philanthropic efforts, as well as leading the Grandparents' Parade at age 90 at the Special Olympics. Her life and work with the Special Olympics are documented in the Oscar-nominated short documentary Rose Kennedy: A Life to Remember.

Children

* Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (b. July 28, 1915 d. August 12, 1944)
* John F. Kennedy (b. May 29, 1917 d. November 22, 1963)
* Rosemary Kennedy (b. September 3, 1918 d. January 7, 2005)
* Kathleen Kennedy (b. February 20, 1920 d. May 13, 1948)
* Eunice Kennedy (b. July 10, 1921)
* Patricia Kennedy (b. May 6, 1924)
* Robert F. Kennedy (b. November 20, 1925 d. June 6, 1968)
* Jean Kennedy (b. February 20, 1928)
* Edward M. Kennedy (b. February 22, 1932)

Joseph and Rose Kennedy's children today

As of February 2006, four of Joseph and Rose Kennedy's nine children are still living. They have grown particularly close as the years have passed.

Rose Marie Kennedy, the third child born in the immediate Kennedy family, underwent a lobotomy in 1941 at age 23 after Joe Kennedy was informed that his daughter's mild mental complications could be cured by such an operation. However, the lobotomy resulted in profound mental retardation. Rosemary Kennedy lived an isolated life at a Wisconsin institution beginning in 1949. Due to the severity of her mental condition, Rosemary became largely detached from the Kennedy clan. However, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics and an advocate for the disabled on Rosemary's behalf, began involving her in family life later on. On January 7, 2005, Rosemary Kennedy died at the age of 86, at the institution where she had spent the last fifty-five years. Hers was the first, and, currently, only, natural death among the children of Joe and Rose Kennedy. A true testament to the merging of the Kennedy siblings, at her side upon her death were her surviving sisters and Senator Ted Kennedy.

Miscellaneous

*The Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, Massachusetts is named for her.
*The Rose Kennedy Cocktail is a popular drink in bars in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States.
*Although she is listed as the oldest resident of Barnstable, Massachusetts, she was declared a legal resident of Florida upon her death to take advantage of Florida's more favorable estate tax laws. She had not left her Hyannis home for over a decade prior to her demise, but her heirs successfully argued that the Kennedy Estate in Palm Beach, Florida was her legal residence

External links

*National Historical site, Rose's home in Brookline.
*Boston Women's Historic Trail