Later Years and Death
After her son Jack became President in 1961, Rose "became a sort of quiet celebrity," appearing on the International Best Dressed List. Most of her social activities consisted of involvement in charities and women’s groups. Rose also took brisk ocean swims outside her Cape Cod house in fifty-degree weather.
After suffering a stroke in 1984, Rose used a wheelchair for the remainder of her life. She maintained her residence at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts and was cared for by private nurses and staff. On January 22, 1995, she died from complications from pneumonia at the age of 104, having outlived her husband by a quarter of a century, four of her nine children (Joe, Jr., Jack, Kick, and Bobby), her ex-son-in-law Peter Lawford, her son-in-law Stephen Edward Smith, her daughter-in-law Jackie, and three of her grandchildren, David, Arabella, and Patrick.
Jean became the last surviving child after Ted died.
Read more about this topic: Rose Kennedy
Famous quotes containing the words years and/or death:
“After years of vain familiarity, some distant gesture or unconscious behavior, which we remember, speaks to us with more emphasis than the wisest or kindest words. We are sometimes made aware of a kindness long passed, and realize that there have been times when our Friends’ thoughts of us were of so pure and lofty a character that they passed over us like the winds of heaven unnoticed; when they treated us not as what we were, but as what we aspired to be.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When death comes too near, comedy and tragedy fall silent.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)