European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 07, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse The stars and stripes headed for easter sunday services last april in Mclean va., were sen. And mrs. Robert f. Kennedy and eight of their 10 children. She shared husband s passion for politics. Life Ethel More of a Kennedy than some of the Kennedy editor s note Ethel Kennedy an infinitely courageous woman has borne More than her share of tragedy and suffering. The 40-year-old wife often. Robert f. Kennedy had campaigned alongside her husband since he entered the presidential race asking no special treatment even though she is expecting their Lith child late this year. Kenned had quipped the baby was due in time for the she was at his Side the place she most liked to be wednesday when he gave his Victory address in los Angeles. She cradled his bleeding head in her arms within moments after an Assassin gunned him Down and remained on Vigil near the operating room throughout his four hours of critical brain surgery. Then she followed him to the intensive care unit to sit by his bedside. She was with him when he died by Mary Ann Reese staff writer Thel Skakel Kennedy was More than a wife to sen. Robert f. Kennedy. She was a soulmate who shared her husband s passions be they politics or athletics or just the act of living. And her favorite place in life was by his her husband s sometimes reserved brusque manner seemed to offend newsmen Ethel Kenned was Quick to win them Over with her warm Way. When this writer was sent to interview Theken Nedys during their 1964 summer raft trip Down Central Idaho s treacherous Salmon River sen. Ken Nedy was understandably annoyed at having his Vaca Tion disrupted by a Battery of Ethel All smiles and looking much prettier than her pictures indicate won the hearts of correspondents in no time by volunteering to answer any questions. In the process she put us to work lugging their gear Down to the rafts. But it was done in such fun and so gently that no one was completely devoted to his wife a wonder fully unaffected woman Friendly cheerful and like Able. When he toured Europe in 1967 he sent his wife telegrams every Day the same fond message on Yin the language of the country he visited. She made sure her husband was t bothered in his political life with the myriad of Small illnesses and problems that beset any family especially a Large one. One Day after Ethel had postponed an interview with a reporter because she was sick Kennedy approached the reporter and asked did you see Ethel yesterday no one had told him his wife had been ill least of All his wife. Few women in Washington s Public life enjoy More admiration than Ethel Kennedy and she has a Large following of close devoted roman Catholic she is known for her compassion especially for deprived children Anil often has opened her luxurious Home to them. Less glamorous than her Sisters in Law Jacquelin Kennedy and Joan Kennedy wife of sen. Edward Kennedy Ethel has often been the target of fashion critics for her casual dress. But she had More important tilings to worry of millionaire George Skakel Ethel has often been called More of a Kennedy than some of hit she epitomizes the stamina family loyalty zest for life and fighting spirit which Are Hall Marks of the clan. Her love for athletics ranges from backyard touch football with the family to horseback Riding skiing or More off beat things like climbing one of the Best descriptions of her is the swell sport title bestowed on her five years ago by newsmen who made a hectic round the world Goodwill trip with Kennedy then attorney general and his they gave mrs. Kennedy a motor Scooter As a gift in Rome she took right off for a ride although she d never been on one before. The result was a slight crash Landing when she could t find the Brake pedal. But Ethel had won her nickname. Bobby and Ethel were married june 17, 1950,in her Hometown of Greenwich conn., following Sev eral years of had first met on the ski slopes of Canada in 1944, but for two years the Young Harvard student dated Ethel s older sister Pat. Ethel who later admitted she was taken with Bobby right off quickly became a Kennedy Buff. She roomed with his younger sister Jean at Manhattan Ville col lege of the sacred heart campaigned for Jack Ken Nedy in 1946, and wrote her thesis on Jack Kennedy Shook while England she got an a and she eventually got Bobby the end of Bobby s senior year at the University of Virginia Law school the Kennedy had their firs child. When Kennedy was attorney general and they announced that their ninth child was expected news men claimed she wanted to emulate her Mother in Law mrs. Joseph p. Kennedy who had nine children four boys and five girls. But the Robert Kennedy did better 10 children seven boys and three Lith child is due in six months. The Kennedy have raised their Brood at the100-year-old Hickory Hill estate in Mclean va., where children dogs and ponies Romp freely. Ethel once con ceded she s not very vell organized when it came to looking after her growing family. But she and he husband have managed plenty of playtime with the Kennedy children Are wiry persistent and combative like their parents and show the same Lack offer of injury As their father did. They pose for family portraits regularly in splints and the Idaho River trip the Kennedy kids amazed All by catching rattlesnakes bar handed and deranged them a trick they apparently had Learned from their own pet snakes at Kennedy was the first to Comfort her husband when he heard of the assassination of his brother. President John f. Kennedy. She showed the same stamina during her husband tragic agonizing death that she showed during his doctor and a roman Catholic priest who were with mrs. Kennedy in those first agonizing minutes after her husband arrived at Central receiving hos Pital told reporters mrs. Kennedy was very Dis traught but or. Victor Baz told reporters she had been very edgy but my own wife would t have clone As Well 1 Don t think. She did t believe that he was alive sort of be-1cause she could see that he was t responding. So when we began to get a heartbeat i put the Stethoscope in her ears so she could listen and she was tremendously msgr. Joseph j. Truxaw pastor of immaculate con 1 caption Church who said mass for Ethel and half a dozen other persons following Kennedy s death said you could see she was grief stricken and shocked but in no Way did she show signs of ithe future will not be easy for Ethel Kennedy. A widow she must face without her husband the birth of a child and the raising of their children and Mak ing a new life without the Man who had been the Center of her life for nearly two decades. Sharing rare quiet moment during hectic Campaign Ethel and Bobby walk Arm in Arm Towa plane following his Indiana primary vie r she was by his Side at his death
