MEMORIES SUSTAIN GRIEVING PARENTS<\/p>\n
Sunday, July 10, 1994<\/p>\n
Page: 1A
\nBy DAWN SHURMAITIS; Times Leader Staff Writer<\/p>\n
SWIFTWATER — Two simple words: I’m sorry.<\/p>\n
That’s all Gwen and Joe Kopechne ever really wanted from Sen. Ted Kennedy,
\nthe driver of the car that plunged off a bridge 25 years ago, killing the
\nKopechnes’ only child, Mary Jo.<\/p>\n
They didn’t want money.<\/p>\n
Even today, Gwen Kopechne bristles at persistent gossip the family used
\nKennedy “blood money” to buy its one-story retirement home in the Poconos.<\/p>\n
The Kopechnes did receive a $140,923 settlement from Kennedy’s insurance
\ncompany, but they insist it was always their plan to use their savings to
\nretire in the Poconos. Mary Jo, says her mother, loved it there.<\/p>\n
“We worked,” says Gwen Kopechne, a Wyoming Valley native. “Kennedy didn’t
\nbuy this house.”<\/p>\n
Today, the Kopechnes live on the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in a wooded
\ndevelopment. Seashells Gwen Kopechne collected from the shores of
\nChappaquiddick during trips the family made there years ago decorate the
\nback stoop and mantlepiece of the modest home. A “Wilkum” sign hangs near
\nthe door.<\/p>\n
To keep busy, the couple volunteer, delivering food to shut-ins. A still
\nspry Joe Kopechne, 81, mows lawns for a pair of widows in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n
When she talks about her daughter, Gwen Kopechne remembers the little
\nthings. The way Mary Jo bugged her to stop smoking. The way she loved to
\ndance the polka.<\/p>\n
“Her and her father used to take to the floor. She was a fun girl,” Gwen
\nKopechne says.<\/p>\n
“She lived a good life.”<\/p>\n
The Kopechnes’ lingering regret is Kennedy’s long silence. The senator
\nnever told the Kopechnes he was sorry.<\/p>\n
He also never acknowledged driving the car.<\/p>\n
The Kopechnes learned he was the driver from news reports.<\/p>\n
Recently, the Kopechnes also learned their daughter’s body was shipped from
\nMassachusetts to Pennsylvania in a body bag on the floor of a plane.<\/p>\n
“We were outraged,” says Gwen Kopechne, 76, a retired cosmetics saleswoman.<\/p>\n
The Kopechnes close their ears to persistent rumors about their daughter,
\nrumors she was having an affair with Kennedy, rumors she was pregnant.<\/p>\n
“We heard a lot of things, but we can’t do anything about them,” says Gwen
\nKopechne. “My daughter is not here to defend herself, so we just have to
\nbear it.”<\/p>\n
During the years, the Kopechnes have received thousands of letters from
\npeople around the world. Many letter-writers insist a cover-up took place
\n— the privileged Kennedy should have been charged with manslaughter
\ninstead of just leaving the scene of the accident.<\/p>\n
For that, he received a two-month, suspended, sentence.<\/p>\n
Some of the letters stored in the Kopechne basement are from Kennedy’s
\nmother, Rose — the 103-year-old matriarch of the Kennedy clan. Ethel
\nKennedy, Robert Kennedy’s widow, also has written.<\/p>\n
“Ethel Kennedy is a very nice, charming woman,” Gwen Kopechne says. “I’ve
\ntalked and written to Rose.”<\/p>\n
`I know my girl’<\/p>\n
Mary Jo was a slender, 5-foot-4 blonde with a pretty, lightly freckled
\nface. When she was young, her mother says, she wanted to be a nun. After
\ngraduating from college, she gravitated to politics. It was the early
\n1960s, and the glow of Camelot was still strong.<\/p>\n
In 1964, she took a job in Robert Kennedy’s Washington office, eventually
\nbecoming a member of the “Boiler Room” gang, a core of trusted Kennedy
\naides who compiled intelligence reports on how delegates to the 1968
\nDemocratic National Convention intended to vote.<\/p>\n
Mary Jo remained on Bobby Kennedy’s staff until it dissolved after his
\nassassination June 5, 1968. It was a reunion of some of the Washington gang
\nthat brought her to Chappaquiddick the weekend of July 18, 1969.<\/p>\n
The Kennedys, says Gwen Kopechne, valued Mary Jo. She knew the family and
\nhad been invited to other Kennedy parties at Hyannis Port and Nantucket.<\/p>\n
“They knew what they had,” Gwen says. “Those Boiler Room girls were very
\nsmart, and they knew they were losing them. That’s why they threw them
\nthose parties.”<\/p>\n
The Kopechnes refuse to believe their daughter was drunk or on her way to
\nthe beach with the married Kennedy. They say they believe Mary Jo was
\nasleep in the back seat of the car and never knew Kennedy was driving.<\/p>\n
“I know my girl,” says Gwen Kopechne. “By 11 o’clock, all she thought about
\nwas going home and going to bed. She was an early bird.”<\/p>\n
Like his wife, Joe Kopechne believes Kennedy was on his way to the White
\nHouse when he took a wrong turn that changed his life.<\/p>\n
“No question about it,” says Joe Kopechne, a retired insurance salesman. “I
\nreally believe he would have been the next president if this didn’t happen.
\nJust on the name alone.”<\/p>\n
————————————————————————
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MEMORIES SUSTAIN GRIEVING PARENTS Sunday, July 10, 1994 Page: 1A By DAWN SHURMAITIS; Times Leader Staff Writer SWIFTWATER — Two simple words: I’m sorry. That’s all Gwen and Joe Kopechne ever really wanted from Sen. Ted Kennedy, the driver of the car that plunged off a bridge 25 years ago, killing the Kopechnes’ only child, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dawnshurmaitis.net\/works\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}