In the news today, it was announced that Kara Kennedy, the daughter of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, has passed away. The cause of death was a heart attack. She was 51 years old. Since she is part of the very well known Kennedy family, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at her family tree.
The families of politicians tend to be “in the public eye”, whether they happen to like the attention or not. Few political families have been written about, talked about, or filmed more than the Kennedy family has. So many of the people in this family are famous.
Kara Anne Kennedy was born on February 27, 1960. Her father was Edward M. Kennedy, who was also known as “Ted” Kennedy. He was a United States Senator from Massachusetts. When he passed away in 2009, he was the second most senior member of the Senate. In 1969, he was involved in a car accident that killed his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.
Her mother is Joan Bennett Kennedy (who sometimes is referred to as “Joan Kennedy”). She is a writer, and a musician, and once was a model. Joan and “Ted” were married in November of 1958. They divorced in 1982.
Kara Anne Kennedy had two younger brothers. Edward Moore Kennedy Jr, was born in 1961. Right now, he is on the board of directors for the American Association of People with Disabilities. When he was twelve years old, he lost his leg due to osteosarcoma.
He married Katherine Anne “Kiki” Gersham in 1993. This makes “Kiki” the sister-in-law of Kara Kennedy. Edward Jr. and “Kiki” have two children: Kiley Elizabeth Kennedy (who is the niece of Kara Anne Kennedy), and Edward Moore Kennedy III, (who is the nephew of Kara Anne Kennedy).
Kara Anne Kennedy has another brother named Patrick J. Kennedy. He was born in 1967. He was the former U.S. Representative for Rhode Island’s First Congressional District. He married Amy Petitgout in 2011. This makes Amy Petitgout a sister-in-law to Kara Anne Kennedy.
Kara Anne Kennedy married Michael Allen in 1990. She dropped her maiden name “Anne” and became Kara Kennedy Allen. The couple had two children before they divorced: Grace Kennedy Allen, and Max Greathouse Allen.
Kara’s father, “Ted” Kennedy, had several siblings. All of them are either the uncle, or the aunt, to Kara. His siblings included: John F. Kennedy (who was the 35th President of the United States), and Robert F. Kennedy, who was also known as “Bobby”, (who was the U.S. Attorney General from 1961 to 1964), to name just a few of the siblings of “Ted” Kennedy.
Image by Bill Frazzetto on Flickr