（Boston Orange摘譯）已故聯邦參議員愛德華甘乃迪 (Edward M. Kennedy，D-MA) 的前妻瓊Joan Bennett Kennedy，2025 年 10 月 8 日在麻波士頓的家中安睡中辭世，享年 89 歲。
Joan Bennett Kennedy是一位古典鋼琴家、音樂教師，也是心理健康和成癮服務倡導者。撰寫並出版過一本暢銷書，“古典樂之趣 （The Joy of Classical Music）”。她和愛德華甘迺迪結婚24年，育有三名子女，卡拉、小泰德和派崔克。她在一個保守的共和黨家庭長大，1958年和愛德華甘迺迪迪結婚後，生活迅速改變，當時甘迺迪家族正在加速發展政治前途。 1962年，25歲的她成為美國史上最年輕參議員的最年輕妻子。
她也是美國第一批公開承認自己和酗酒及抑鬱症對抗、掙扎的傑出女性，打破當年社會對這種症狀保持緘默的一慣做法。
她身後遺有2子，小泰德甘迺迪，以及曾任羅德島州聯邦眾議員的Patrick J. Kennedy，以及9名孫子女，1名曾孫，30多名侄輩，還有住在德州休士頓的姊姊Candace (Candy) McMurrey。她的女兒Kara已於2011年逝世。
Joan Bennett Kennedy, former wife of Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), dies at 89.
BOSTON, MA — Joan Bennett Kennedy, former wife of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), classical pianist, music teacher, and advocate for mental health and addiction services, passed away peacefully in her sleep at her home in Boston, Massachusetts on October 8, 2025 at the age of 89.
Mrs. Kennedy was married to Senator Kennedy for 24 years, and was the mother to his three children, Kara, Ted, Jr., and Patrick. Raised in a conservative Republican home, her life quickly changed when she married Ted Kennedy in 1958, just as the Kennedys were accelerating their political lives. By 1962, at the age of 25, she became the youngest wife of the youngest U.S. Senator ever elected in the history of the United States.
Playing the piano instantly became her trademark while campaigning with the Kennedys, where she would frequently open political rallies and warm up the crowd with her piano serenades. After her divorce from Senator Kennedy in 1982, she moved from Washington to Boston to escape the media spotlight, pursue a Master’s Degree in Musical Education from Lesley University, become a music teacher, and focus on her new sobriety. As a classically trained and accomplished musician, she regularly performed with orchestras all over the world, spreading her message about the transformational power of music and the need for equitable access to arts education for all K-12 students. She became active with local Boston arts organizations, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Council for the Arts and Humanities. In 1992, she wrote the best-selling book, The Joy of Classical Music, to demystify the genre and make classical music more accessible to all listeners.
Mrs. Kennedy became one of the first prominent women in America to publicly acknowledge her struggles with alcoholism and depression, a move that she felt was essential to breaking the silence and tackling the taboo of addiction in the 1970s. Her honesty and candor, and her ability to successfully recreate her life in Boston, a community that supported her privacy and embraced her recovery, made her an inspiration to countless other women facing similar challenges.
She is survived by two children, Ted Kennedy, Jr., and former Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI), 9 grandchildren, 1 great-grandchild, over 30 nieces and nephews, and a sister, Candace (Candy) McMurrey, of Houston, TX. Her daughter, Kara, died in 2011.
“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,” said Ted Kennedy, Jr.
“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. 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,” said Patrick Kennedy.
“Joan was an accomplished pianist and possessed an impressive knowledge of the classical music repertoire. Her dedication to the Boston Pops Orchestra, and especially to the young people of Boston, will have a lasting impact. She will be greatly missed and will always be regarded as a member of our Boston Symphony Family,” said John Williams, Conductor Laureate of the Boston Pops.
The schedule for calling hours and the date and time of the funeral ceremony will be announced as soon as possible and will also be available on the website of the Carr Funeral Home, Charlestown, MA, https://www.carrfuneral.com/
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