Ted Kennedy Dead at 77

Edward Moore Kennedy, better known as Ted, was born February 22, 1932 in Boston. He was the youngest of nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. He attended Harvard College and the University Of Virginia School Of Law. He served in the United States Army. He was the youngest brother of assassinated President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was also assassinated.

Ted was sworn into the Senate on November 7, 1962. He was an outspoken individual who stood up for what he believed in and he championed many progressive causes and bills. Ted was a key player in passing laws that affected all Americans. Some of these laws include the “Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965”, “National Cancer Act of 1971”, “Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986”, “Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990”, “Ryan White AIDS Care Act” in 1990, “Civil Rights Act of 1991”, “Mental Health Parity Act” in 1996 and 2008, “State Children’s Health Insurance Program” in 1997, “No Child Left Behind Act” in 2002 and the “Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act” in 2009. He believed in universal health care, which he was working toward with the Obama administration.

He was a powerful speaker and eventually became known as “The Lion of the Senate”. He was the second most senior member of the senate and the third longest serving senator in United States history. More than 300 bills written by Ted and his staff have been made into laws. Although he was a Democrat, he was able to work with the Republicans as well to find compromises that everyone could support.

Some of Ted’s most often quoted words were from the eulogy he gave at Robert’s funeral: “My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: ‘Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.’”

Ted’s malignant brain tumor was diagnosed in May of 2008. Because of his battle with cancer he was often absent from his Senate seat and his last appearance there was early spring. He died just short of midnight on August 25, 2009 at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. His final moments were spent with his family and his priest, Reverend Patrick Tarrant, surrounding his bed in tearful prayer. His body will lie in repose Thursday and Friday at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. His funeral will be at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica on Saturday followed by his burial at Arlington National Cemetery. Ted Kennedy may not have lived a life without flaws, few of us have. Hopefully, he will long be remembered for the good that he did for the people of the United States, whom he served.