Ethel Kennedy's Cape Cod Funeral Scheduled For Monday

CAPE COD, MA — Family and close friends will mourn the late Ethel Kennedy during a private funeral service on Monday at a Cape Cod church.

A funeral mass is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Our Lady of Victory in Centerville. The event is not open to the public.

Kennedy died at 96 exactly one week after she suffered a stroke. The news was announced on X by her grandson, Joe Kennedy III.

"It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother, Ethel Kennedy," her grandson said Thursday. "Along with a lifetime's work in social justice and human rights, our mother leaves behind nine children, 34 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren, along with numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom love her dearly."

Kennedy III continued: "She was a devout Catholic and a daily communicant, and we are comforted in knowing she is reunited with the love of her life, our father, Robert F. Kennedy; her children David and Michael; her daughter-in-law Mary; her grandchildren Maeve and Saoirse; and her great-grandchildren Gideon and Josie. Please keep her in your hearts and prayers."

Ethel Kennedy was born on April 11, 1928, in Chicago, Illinois, according to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. She met Robert F. Kennedy when she was 17 years old.

"At the time, Bobby was dating Ethel's sister, Patricia Skakel," the museum said. "Eventually that relationship ended and Robert and Ethel started seeing each other."

Hyannisport is known for being a second home to John F. Kennedy during his presidency, when then-attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, Ethel, and the rest of the family gathered to spend their summers, according to The Cape Cod Times.

Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles during his 1968 presidential campaign. He was 42 years old.

As an activist, Ethel Kennedy focused much of her time and energy in the 1970s on the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Project, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum said.

She later founded the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights and also co-chairs the Coalition of Gun Control.

With reporting from Cailin Loesch.