In October 1957, at the dedication of a gymnasium at Manhattanville College in memory of another Kennedy sister,
Kathleen – who had died in a plane crash in France in 1948 – Jean Kennedy Smith introduced Joan to her younger brother Edward ( Ted), then a student at the
University of Virginia School of Law in
Charlottesville. The couple became engaged quickly and Joan grew nervous about marrying someone she did not know well. His father
Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. insisted that the wedding should proceed, and they were married on November 29, 1958, at the
St. Joseph's Church in
Bronxville, New York. The small family wedding was held just a few weeks after Ted's older brother United States Senator
John F. Kennedy won his landslide re-election for his
United States Senate seat representing
Massachusetts in 1958. They had three children:
Kara Kennedy (1960–2011),
Edward M. Kennedy Jr. (Ted Jr.) (b. 1961), and
Patrick J. Kennedy (b. 1967). Two of their children were cancer victims. Ted Jr. developed
bone cancer at age 12, which resulted in the removal of a portion of his right leg in 1973, and Kara was treated for
lung cancer in 2003; Kara died of a
heart attack at the age of 51 on September 16, 2011. Ted suffered a severe back injury in a 1964 airplane crash while campaigning for his first full Senate term. Joan assumed his campaign appearance duties during his
successful re-election bid. He had previously won a
special election in November 1962 to serve the remaining two years of his brother John F. Kennedy's Senate term, following John's resignation upon his election as the
35th President of the United States in November 1960. In July 1969, Ted was involved in a
car accident at a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts that resulted in the death of his passenger,
Mary Jo Kopechne. Although pregnant, and having been confined to bed in the wake of two previous
miscarriages, Joan attended Kopechne's funeral. Three days later, she stood beside her husband in a local court when he pled guilty to
leaving the scene of an accident. She suffered a third miscarriage shortly thereafter. In 1970, Kennedy would perform a recital with the
Philadelphia Orchestra that won her standing ovations and stellar reviews. The couple separated in 1978 after twenty years of marriage. Around this time, Kennedy gave interviews to
People and ''
McCall's'' magazines discussing her struggles with
alcoholism. She described using alcohol to cope with unhappiness and social pressure, and spoke openly about her recovery through the
Alcoholics Anonymous twelve-step program. They later announced plans to divorce in 1981; the divorce was granted in 1982. == Later life and death ==