Mother of a United States President. She gained recognition as an American philanthropist and socialite, yet she's most remembered as the mother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy. She was the matriarch of the politically prominent Kennedy family and mother of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, and Robert Francis Kennedy and Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy, United States Senators.
She was born Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, the eldest child of John Francis "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, a prominent figure in Boston politics who served one term in Congress and later became the city's Mayor. After attending the local Girls' Latin School, she graduated from Dorchester High School in 1906. As a young lady, she attended finishing school at a "strict French convent," and became her father's traveling companion, visiting many countries of Europe in 1908, and the newly-built Panama Canal.
She married wealthy financier Joseph Patrick Kennedy on October 7, 1914, after a courtship of more than seven years. The couple's residence was in nearby Brookline, and the house has become a National Historic Landmark. She bore four sons and five daughters, among them a future president, and a number of senators and philanthropists, including the founder of the Special Olympics. Always a physically active person, she took brisk ocean swims in 50-degree weather even into her 80s. There's no question that she cared for her children and assisted them in every way in their careers. However, she wasn't a particularly hands-on mother. "I did little diaper changing," she admitted.
At the family's summer retreat at Hyannis Port, she often sought solitude to remove herself from the ruckus of her big family. An intensely devout Roman Catholic, she would pray in her private retreat. Rose Kennedy did not push her own ambitions on her children the way her husband did. Instead, she quietly offered another path, by her own example, of religious and familial duty and personal stoicism. After the death of the president, she nearly cried. Regaining her self-composure, she declared, "No one will ever feel sorry for me."
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy outlived her husband and four of her nine children, dying at the age of 104 in 1995, from complications of pneumonia. At the time of her death, Rose Kennedy was the longest-lived Presidential parent in history. She was well-known for her philanthropic efforts, as well as leading the Grandparents' Parade at age 90 at the Special Olympics. Her life and work with the Special Olympics are documented in the American Film Foundation's documentary Rose Kennedy: A Life to Remember.
Bio by: Edward Parsons
Gravesite Details
Interment Date: January 24, 1995