Granddaughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy dies at Kennedy compound

www.boston25news.com ^ | Updated: Aug 2, 2019 - 8:52 AM | By: Boston 25 News Staff

[Red Badger]

HYANNIS PORT, Mass. - A 22-year-old granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy died Thursday at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, the family said in a statement.

Saoirse Kennedy Hill, 22, was the daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy's fifth child, Courtney, and Paul Michael Hill, who was one of four falsely convicted in the 1974 Irish Republican Army bombings of two pubs.

The Kennedy family released a statement on Thursday night, following reports of a death at the family's compound in Hyannis Port. The statement was issued by Brian Wright O'Connor, a spokesman for former congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II.

"She lit up our lives with her love, her peals of laughter and her generous spirit," the statement said, adding that she was passionate about human rights and women's empowerment and worked with indigenous communities to build schools in Mexico.

Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse. Her life was filled with hope, promise and love. She cared deeply about friends and family, especially her mother Courtney, her father Paul, her stepmother Stephanie, and her grandmother Ethel, who said, "The world is a little less beautiful today." She lit up our lives with her love, her peals of laughter and her generous spirit. Saoirse was passionately moved by the causes of human rights and women's empowerment and found great joy in volunteer work, working alongside indigenous communities to build schools in Mexico. We will love her and miss her forever.

The statement says Saoirse Hill was passionate about human rights and women's empowerment and that she worked with indigenous communities to build schools in Mexico.

The statement quoted her 91-year-old grandmother, Ethel Kennedy, as saying "the world is a little less beautiful today."

The family statement did not include a cause of death.

Saoirse attended Boston College, where she was a member of the class of 2020.

In 2016, she openly wrote about mental illness, battling depression and a suicide attempt while a student at Deerfield Academy. In the article, she also wrote about a sexual assault "after someone I knew and loved broke serious sexual boundaries with me."

"I did the worst thing a victim can do, and I pretended it hadn't happened," she wrote. "This all became too much, and I attempted to take my own life."

Thursday afternoon, paramedics responded to a medical call at the Kennedy compound property.

Sky25 video captured two police officers going into one of the homes at the compound around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

>>Photos: The life and death of JFK

A police cruiser and a red car were also parked outside the waterfront property earlier on Thursday when the victim was taken to Cape Cod Hospital.

In a statement, assistant district attorney Tara Miltimore, of the Cape & Islands District Attorney's Office, said police responded to a Marchant Avenue residence for an unattended death.

Earlier this afternoon Barnstable Police responded to a residence on Marchant Ave in Hyannisport for a reported unattended death. The matter remains under investigation by Barnstable Police and State Police detectives assigned to the District Attorney's Office. -Assistant District Attorney Tara Miltimore

Police say they responded to 28 Marchant Ave. for a medical call shortly after 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Fire crews cleared the scene at 2:54 p.m.

The home, which is assessed at $2.5 million, has been owned by several Kennedy family members over the years, including the late Edward M. Kennedy and the late Robert F. Kennedy, online assessor's records show.

In the 1960s, the compound served as the summer White House for President John F. Kennedy.

Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down in Los Angeles in 1968 after winning California's presidential primary. He had served as attorney general in the administration of his brother, President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in Dallas in 1963.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[BlackAdderess]

Bet more than one person called her Circe.

Poor girl. Born in a fishbowl.

[BansheeBill]

A channel 25 FOX Boston reporter tweeed last night that Police sources say that methadone was found near the body

[kiryandil]

Kennedys would be trafficking in their granddaughters and great-granddaughters...

[miserare]

I am so sorry. May your beloved son rest in peace.

[twister881]

>>Pride goeth before a fall. But did he have to kill his wife and sister-in-law too?!<<

A flight instructor at the departure field who knew of Kennedy’s inexperience, and also of the late hour and approaching weather, offered to be his co-pilot. Kennedy, being the arrogant knothead that are most males of the clan, turned down the assistance. Three dead because of his foolishness and bad judgment.

[sparklite2]

falsely convicted

---

Now, there’s a phrase I’ve not seen before.
Sounds a tad oxymoronic, doesn’t it?

[9422WMR]

“It’s pronounced “Sorcha.” It’s Gaelic.”
Yea, it is Gae!

[VideoDoctor]

They said yesterday that someone there died of an overdose.

Obviously the TRUTH of what occurred.

That's why the article said The family statement did not include a cause of death.

[Albion Wilde]

“Saoirse” How do you even say that name?

Pronounced SHEER-sheh

I agree, for American parents to give unusual names that are not phonetically English is a curse on the recipient.

[Reily]

Is that an Irish(Gaelic) name?

[Albion Wilde]

So sorry for your bereavements, HotHunt.

[Albion Wilde]

Wonder why she didn’t name the family member who raped her?

My first thought as well. Most women can get over an unwanted date rape, as long as it's not violent. But to haved attempt suicide, there must have been a deep moral violation. Family member, priest, teacher or professor.

[Albion Wilde]

Yes, it is Gaelic. I was a bit incorrect above, going from memory. Online sources with audio tracks say it is pronounced SEER-shuh.

[HotHunt]

Thank you.

[HotHunt]

Thank you.

[Carriage Hill]

Not as bad as Fentanyl, but still deadly.

[Night Hides Not]

Jesuits USED to be the strictest sect in all of Catholicism......…

I was lucky to have known several Jesuit priests during my time at Gonzaga. All were incredible men of deep faith and great intellect.

I only had a few classes with Jesuit professors, as I changed majors to Public Accounting my sophomore year, a major that required 30 upper division hours.

Fr. Tony Lehmann, SJ was a campus ministry leader, who seemingly knew everybody by name on campus, no mean feat considering there were 2000 undergrads back then. He'd later take on the role of the chaplain for the basketball team.

He was known by his sign off phrase of "to be continued", and honored with a memorial in the "Kennel":

Father Tony always had a smile on his face, and always had an encouraging word for those who came to him for counsel.

Another was Fr. Robert Spitzer (GU '74), who was President of GU from 1999-2009, give or take. A brilliant man and dynamic speaker, Fr. Bob represents the best the Jesuit order has to offer.

He's been fighting an uphill battle against the liberals in his order, and I'm proud to say that I'm a fellow Zag. O/T, up until a couple of weeks ago, I did not know he was also a Public Accounting grad.

Shortly before he spoke as a keynote speaker in Dallas a few weeks ago, I was able to spend a few minutes with him. When I told him I majored in accounting, the topic turned to the professor we had for over 30 hours of accounting.

The memories washed over me...that professor, Dr. Dan Brajcich, taught for at least 30 years, and never used numbers, strictly focusing on accounting theory.

Fr. Spitzer knows what he speaks of, his book from 15 years ago, Healing the Culture, which I should pick up and reread. His section on the hierarchy of love, leading to agape love is inspiring, and enabled me to reach the sixth graders I taught at my parish.

Those men are the real Jesuits IMO.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.