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3. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Matriarch of the Kennedy Family

Did you notice the amount of roses on Main Street and Pearl Street in Hyannis? Many people on Cape Cod associate the roses here with Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, the matriarch of the Kennedy family and mother of our 35th President, John F. Kennedy. Hyannis Port was the year round home of Rose Kennedy for many years. She attended mass at the nearby St. Francis Xavier Church on South Street until her death in 1995.

Rose Kennedy and her Children

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy is the daughter of John ‘Honey’ Fitzgerald mayor of Boston from 1906 – 1908. She married business man, Joseph P. Kennedy in 1914. They began their married life in Brookline, Massachusetts. Rose & Joseph had nine children many of whom knew success, yet also tragedy.
The children in order, according to their birth:

Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. a naval pilot, killed in World War II in 1944.

John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States, assassinated in 1963.

Rosemary Kennedy the eldest daughter, suffered from an experimental lobotomy, but lived a long life and died at 87 years of age.

Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish married in Great Britain and was killed in a plane crash in France in 1948.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver is known as the founder of the Special Olympics, and she died in Hyannis Port in 2009.

Patricia Kennedy Lawford, an actress, married actor Peter Lawford, and she founded the National Committee for the Liberal Arts.  She died in 2006.

Robert F. Kennedy, US Attorney General and U.S. Senator from New York, was assassinated in Los Angeles in 1968, during his own presidential campaign.

Jean Kennedy Smith was the last surviving child of the J.P. Kennedy family, served as the 25th U.S. Ambassador to Ireland. She died June 17, 2020.

Edward ‘Ted’ Moore Kennedy, US Senator from Massachusetts, was the youngest child, and died in Hyannis Port in 2009.