ann gargan king

Posted on August 13, 2020 at 1:06 pm by / tornado sounds 1 hour / Cover story band net

I was living in New Hampshire before I came back down, so this area was familiar, which made it easier for me. I can’t remember the exact hours, but I think when we came in—yes, because by then the Secret Service had taken over.

Ann Gargan, described as Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.'s favorite niece, was with the Ambassador at the golf course in Palm Beach, Florida in December 1961 when he suffered a stroke.
He told him exactly what had happened, the condition he was in, and said, “You’d better get out here as soon as you can because they’re talking about my back. Of the boys, the older ones were eligible to be in the service, and even Bob joined the Navy. Then, of course, he came back to a hospital here in Boston, and his dad was up there the first day they stood him up.

But after he was home for a while—or was out of the hospital, let’s put it that way—he was staying at the Cape, so he could come down. I can’t mention anybody who hasn’t had a bout with cancer. There’s a lot of it, and there’s a lot of it in your heart, and you just don’t know how to express that kind of thing. Jack went home. The youngest did get to do that—lay them out to dry and all that. Yes. His dad maintained his position, and the doctors maintained their position. He kept the children with him. Jackie [Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis] always said that she was so impressed with how he tried to keep Jack’s spirit alive with Caroline and John, and how with so many little things—the desks and the memorabilia—he always made sure that John was aware that they were his father’s, that his father did this, and his father did that. Did Joan [Bennett Kennedy] campaign for him that year as a result of his—? Everybody who knows them, either in the family or just friends, will say that she’s probably the best thing that ever could have happened in his lifetime. At the time, you think that’s the most important part, and so you do that. No, they did not. [By the time we came back from riding, they were all over at the big house. Do you remember when Senator Ted Kennedy first ran for the Senate in 1962 in Massachusetts? But over the years, as I said, we spent a lot of time there. That was a pretty strong format already in place, to establish your own position in something like that. A couple of my uncle’s friends were there: a man named Carroll Rosenbloom, Morton Downey. There was so much interplay before, and everybody had so much to say about everything. It was a lovely picture. But he just has to look at food and he puts on weight. They knew, no matter what they did, they had a support system. Fair. Ted could walk once he started taking a few steps. That’s where the original ideas came from, and through his mother. It was important to both of them that that happened.
But as I said, when things would go wrong, he’d say, “Oh, boy,” like any of us. You’re entirely welcome. And nobody gave more pleasure to his two older brothers than he did. Some of us hung out, and my aunt and uncle went home. Ted would say, “Did Dad hear?” And I’d say, “Yes, he did, and he’s right here.”Really, it was a wonderful spirit. He did always very much amuse his father. That was a lot of laughs, things like that. So I would think that was really in his life. You know Washington in a snowstorm. I remember more in that ’58 to ’64 period because there were so many big things that happened, some of it so good, and some of it so horrible.

To have people you love in that kind of trouble is not pleasant.I think a lot of times, as bad as we feel for the person who’s really sick, we feel almost equally bad for the people who have to watch it. Right. "She had the body of a 21-year-old yearning for fulfillment with the mentality of a 4-year-old.

Gargan. And if you’re willing to go through this again with Mary Jo, that’d be great.

I think he wanted her out of the house, quite honestly. Ann Gargan (right) was the Joe Kennedy Sr's shapely chauffeur. I can barely remember what I did last week. I think that’s what everybody wants, and he had it, and he knew he had it, which is another thing. And he’d have the children there. Do you think he’s most comfortable when he’s at Hyannis Port? Well, as I said, everything changes.

He came back to tell both of them, and then take his mother back to Washington after Jack’s death.

Really, if he gives some thought to his own life, for over 25 years he had the strongest people in his world at home with a nurse 24 hours a day, which is not easy. He knew he had that support system. And my uncle got all sorts of projects for the two of them: cutting the bridle paths over in Osterville and that kind of thing. Well, for years, especially after the President’s death, Bobby would be like the Pied Piper. And he was great, too, all the years his mother was sick. They had us all in this little room, and—much to the consternation of the doctors, I think—Ted was insisting—he was flat-out, but just insisting—that his dad see the x-rays and give them his opinion. And of course, half the time—not half, a couple of times—it would be for me instead of for him.