Posted on 01/13/2008 9:59:24 AM PST by Borges
Daughter Mary Jo killed in 1969 accident while riding in car of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
PLYMOUTH – A mother who lost her daughter in a well-publicized automobile accident in Massachusetts nearly 39 years ago was remembered Saturday as a caring woman who loved talking, drinking coffee and making pancakes for breakfast.
Gwen L. Kopechne, 89, died on Dec. 20 at the Valley Crest Nursing Home in Plains Township.
A small gathering of family and friends attended a Memorial Mass in her honor at All Saints Church in Plymouth.
Family photographs pasted on a board were placed near the altar, and two pictures showing Gwen, her late husband, Joseph, and their only daughter, Mary Jo, were placed on a table beneath a Pastoral candle.
Gwen was laid to rest in St. Vincent’s Cemetery in Larksville next to her husband and Mary Jo, whose life immortalized the family when she was killed in the accident on Chappaquiddick Island on July 19, 1969.
The 28-year-old woman and Democratic campaign worker was a passenger in a car driven by U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
Kennedy was driving the young woman from a party when he drove off a bridge and into a pond. Kennedy escaped with minor injuries but Mary Jo was killed.
Circumstances surrounding the accident and events that followed evolved into a cloud of suspicion that continues today.
The accident has been the subject of many books, documentaries and an inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which has its Chappaquiddick investigative files online.
The tragic event on Chappaquiddick or Kennedy wasn’t mentioned during the memorial service.
Instead, family paid homage to Gwen, who was born in Edwardsville on June 8, 1918, and grew up during the Depression, falling in love and marrying her high school sweetheart, Joseph.
Gwen and Joseph lived the American dream and devoted their lives to Mary Jo, their family said.
After Mary Jo’s death, Gwen and Joseph built a home in Swiftwater where they lived for nearly 30 years.
A homemaker, Gwen loved sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee, talking to people and making pancakes for breakfast for family who stayed the night.
What made Gwen a strong woman was her strength to learn and not dwell on the past, her family said.
Gee, did Ted attend?
I wonder if the Kennedy Pig bothered sending flowers......
Yea, and Ole Teddy Boy will outlive them all. Hopefully there is justice in the future for him.
Mary Jo could not be reached for comment
I wonder if Fat Ted sent flowers. The pig.
>>
Gwen and Joseph lived the American dream and devoted their lives to Mary Jo, their family said.
After Mary Jo’s death, Gwen and Joseph built a home in Swiftwater where they lived for nearly 30 years.
>>
How was that construction funded?
must have been a hard life for her with that fat bastard walking around never having atoned at all
Ohhh, there WILL be justice for Teddy Boy.
Hope he’s wearing asbestos BVDs when he assumes room temperature, a condition which will NOT last where he’s headed.
Sadly, they lost their daughter, but most likely they didn’t have any money problems — due to the Kennedy guilt money.
“If she had lived, Mary Jo Kopechne would be 62 years old. Through his tireless work as a legislator, Edward Kennedy would have brought comfort to her in her old age.”
- Boston Globe reporter Charles Pierce
At least Mrs. Koepechne won’t have to worry about eventually seeing Ted Kennedy in Heaven.
The common view is that they were handsomely rewarded for quietly accepting that their daughter's death was an accident. Only they, and the corrupt Kennedy's, will ever know the truth.
You know that judge whom Ted Kennedy so avidly opposed who was also at the least an acquaintance of the Kopechnes.
“Gwen and Joseph lived the American dream and devoted their lives to Mary Jo, their family said.”
This quote had to refer to their lives prior to Ted Kennedy. Losing their only daughter was no dream but a nightmare that I believe they lived with every day of their lives.
It’s OK. Kennedy will have to pay the final price when he meets his maker. He is nothing but a name and a vacumn. He can live forever but he will still be ALONE because what he did there will be no fancy lawyers or anyone else covering up for him. He will have to stand and face what he did eyeball to eyeball with God. What people like him don’t ever really understand is that how it is with all of us. At the end we are ALONE and we face our music ALONE. He has a LOT to atone for. God knows how much no one even knows about. I pity him.
Rest in peace Mrs.Kopechne.
Uncle Teddy probably sent a set of water wings and an empty Chivas bottle.
Yep, that fat whale is outlasting them all.
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