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.
I just saw an ad during the Giants-Cowboys game with one of those rich, worthless Kennedy dorks shilling for Chavez and Citgo. Disgusting little commie.
I began as an admirer of Jack Kennedy, and of course half of wehat they said about him was true,. I was even able to take Bobby as a man of substance—although I was surprised how Reagan was able to take him apart in open debate—and I was willing to give Teddy a chance. Then came the bridge and I just shook my head and moved on. He reminded me of Charles James Fox, except that Fox moved in the opposite direction, from mere dissipation to courage as an ally of Wilberforce. To be sure, I imagine that Teddy likes to think of himself as a champion of true liberalism. I see something else.
someone said around 140,000 in 1969 dollars....around 800K today in CPI adjusted dollars
not much eh?
as a southerner and serious anti-commie
can’t say we were ever crazy about anything Kennedy cept their booze
What absolute scum.
Kennedy, Pierce, the Boston Globe, the whole lot of them.
Ted Kennedy has no comment ?
One wonders how many $’s went to Mary Jo’s parents to keep them quiet after the $inator killed their daughter.
“I just saw an ad during the Giants-Cowboys game with one of those rich, worthless Kennedy dorks shilling for Chavez and Citgo. Disgusting little commie.”
That would be joe kennedy. The scum that doesn’t care that Venezuelan people are suffering so he can get oil.
He has some sick looking kid help hawk his ad.
DISGUSTING!
Maybe if this a$$hole would let us dig on our reserves, those people would not be freezing.
It would take everything I am to forgive that person, but I would make myself do it, in obedience to Jesus.
Her earthly torture is at an end. May she rest in peace.
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