Joan Bennett Kennedy, the first wife of Sen. Ted Kennedy and the last surviving member of an iconic generation of the famous family, has died at 89.
PEOPLE confirms that Joan died in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Oct. 8. Local Rhode Island news outlet GoLocalProv wrote that she died peacefully in her sleep at her Boston home.
Joan, a talented classical pianist with a master’s degree in education, married Ted, the youngest Kennedy son, in 1958. They shared three children: Kara, Ted Jr. and Patrick.
The couple divorced in 1983, but continued to be connected through the ups and downs of their children’s lives.
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Kara, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2002, died from a heart attack in 2011. Ted Jr., an attorney and former member of the Connecticut state Senate, developed bone cancer at age 12 and had part of his right leg removed. Patrick served as a Rhode Island congressman for 16 years and is a mental health advocate.
Following the news of her death, Joan’s sons and other family members paid tribute to the late matriarch.
“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,” Joan’s son Patrick, 58, told ABC 6 Providence following her death.
“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,” he added.
Ted Jr., 64, said in a statement: “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.”
Quiet and reserved, Joan didn’t always fit in with the rambunctious style of the Kennedy family and once told PEOPLE how Jackie Kennedy had advised her to seek solace in her piano, the way she did with painting. After she and Ted’s divorce became official, she never remarried.
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She later admitted that she began drinking heavily to get through the numerous misfortunes and challenges in her life. “At times I drank to feel less inhibited, to relax at parties,” she told PEOPLE in 1978. “Other times I drank to block out unhappiness, to drown my sorrows.”
Joan embraced the twelve-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous and was candid about her struggles. “Staying sober is difficult,” Joan told PEOPLE in 1979 while sipping a diet ginger ale. “But I’m sober today, and that’s all that matters. I’m working on my recovery a day at a time.”
