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.
Rest in peace dear woman. Your life was destroyed by the curse of the Kennedys, I hope you can find peace now.
The Kopechne family is finally reunited. I hope they’re at the Pearly Gates when Tub-a-dub shows up, and is frog-marched to Hades.
Last I heard they never received one cent and were never contacted by the swimmer.
I read somewhere that the Kennedy machine slimed them.
Meanwhile, her daughter’s killer is still at large.
You bet there is. It’s called “judgment” and it’s in the Bible.
Check out my profile.
At least now, she knows what really happened the night her daughter died.
She lived every day with a Mary Jo-sized hole in her heart, thanks to The Swimmer.
Kennedy blood money.
If a Kennedy wasn't the driver, it would be called vehicular homicide, not an accident.
Every time I see Ted Kennedy, I think of Mary Jo. RIP
I hate to tell you but Teddy will die “Forgiven” and go sit on the right hand of God. Poor Mary Jo may have died in her sins and, well let it go.
WTF? This is a joke, right?
Kennedy prevented the accident from ever being fully investigated. The famous “inquest” never got off the ground, because his lawyers demanded the right to attend and question every witness. Of course, it made no sense that this demand stopped the inquest, except Kennedy influence.
Kennedy’s actions (leaving the scene, leaving her to die, showing up the next morning after a good night’s sleep),was despicable by any measure.
No, it’s not a joke. It actually appeared in fawning (quelle supris) Boston Globe Magazine “profile” of the senior senator, circa 2003. Clearly, there are no grown ups on Morrisey Boulevard.
Charles Pierce wanted to sew up the prize for most fatuous MSM media quote of the new century early and make a strong bid the third millenium prize.
It’s gonna be hard act to follow.
How could he manage to pen those lines? If he had not left her to die because he was too drunk to present himself to the authorities?
How could he manage to pen those lines? If he had not left her to die because he was too drunk to present himself to the authorities?
How could he manage to pen those lines? If he had not left her to die because he was too drunk to present himself to the authorities?
I disagree, you have assumed that Kennedy has confessed and atoned for his sins. His efforts to continue the killing of the unborn leads me to believe otherwise.
I lay my faith at the feet of a just God.
See #35.
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