Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took to social media on Thursday evening to honor his mother, Ethel Kennedy, after she died at the age of 96.
“My mom, Ethel Skakel Kennedy, passed peacefully into Heaven this morning. She was 96. She died in Boston surrounded by many of her nine surviving children and her friends,” RFK Jr. wrote on X.
His lengthy tribute had nearly 100,000 likes as of Thursday evening.
Ethel Kennedy had 11 children with her late husband, Robert F. Kennedy, before his assassination in 1968. She was pregnant at the time of his death with their 11th child, a daughter named Rory.
ETHEL KENNEDY, WIDOW OF ROBERT F. KENNEDY, DEAD AT 96
Ethel Shakel Kennedy Hope Awards Dinner, Show, New York, USA – 13 Dec 2017. (Stephen Lovekin/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)
“God gave her 34 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren, and the energy to give them all the attention they required. He blessed her with a rich and eventful life. Even as she declined in recent months, she never lost her sense of fun, her humor, her spark, her spunk, and her joie de vivre. She wrung joy from every moment, but for 56 years she has spoken with yearning of the day she would reunite with her beloved husband,” RFK Jr.’s tribute reads.
After her husband’s death, Ethel founded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization later in 1968.
“She is with him now, with my brothers David and Michael, with her parents, her six siblings, all of whom predeceased her, and her “adopted” Kennedy siblings Jack, Kick, Joe, Teddy, Eunice, Jean, Rosemary, and Patricia,” continues her son’s post. “From the day she met my father, her new family observed that she was “more Kennedy than the Kennedys.”
ETHEL KENNEDY, 96-YEAR-OLD WIDOW OF ROBERT F. KENNEDY, SUFFERS STROKE, FAMILY ASKS FOR PRAYERS
Ethel Kennedy was impassioned to support Democrat politicians and political causes throughout her life. President Barack Obama presented Kennedy with a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014.
“My mother invented tough love, and she could be hard on her children when we didn’t live up to her expectations. But she was also intensely loyal, and we always knew that she would stand fiercely behind us when we came under attack by others,” wrote Kennedy.
Ethel Kennedy attends a ceremony to announce the next ship in the next generation of fleet replenishment oilers will be named USNS Robert F. Kennedy at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston on Sept. 20, 2016. Many members of the Kennedy family and other dignitaries were in attendance. (Photo by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
RFK Jr. finished his tribute saying, “I credit her for all my virtues. I’m grateful for her generosity in overlooking my faults.”
According to RFK Jr., his family has not been entirely on-board with his recent endorsement of former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
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Ethel Kennedy suffered a stroke on October 3 and was hospitalized prior to her death, according to her family.
