U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III mourned the loss of his cousin, Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, and her 8-year-old son Saturday morning after search and rescue efforts for the missing pair shifted to a recovery mission.
“We love you Maeve. We love you Gideon. Our family has lost two of the brightest lights,” the Massachusetts Democrat said in a tweet. “Grateful for your prayers. Hold your loved ones tight.”
Maeve McKean is the granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during a presidential bid, the grandniece of former President John F. Kennedy, who was shot and killed in Dallas five years earlier, and daughter of former Maryland lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Robert F. Kennedy’s eldest child.
“With profound sadness, I share the news that the search for my beloved daughter Maeve and grandson Gideon has turned from rescue to recovery,” Townsend said in a statement Friday night.
“My heart is crushed, yet we shall try to summon the grace of God and what strength we have to honor the hope, energy and passion that Maeve and Gideon set forth into the world.”
Gov. Cuomo, during his news conference on New York’s battle with coronavirus Saturday, said his daughters were mourning the death of their Kennedy clan cousins.
Cuomo said it was difficult to watch the three daughters of his ex-wife, Kerry Kennedy, suffer without being able to physically contact their cousins.
“It’s emotionally very painful,” Cuomo said. “They can’t hold each other. They can’t hug each other.”
McKean’s husband, David McKean, said in a Facebook post Friday night that the family had been quarantined at his mother-in-law’s waterfront home in Shady Side, Md. in recent weeks.
“We were self-quarantining in an empty house owned by Maeve’s mother Kathleen on the Chesapeake Bay, hoping to give our kids more space than we have at home in D.C. to run around,” he wrote. “Gideon and Maeve were playing kickball by the small, shallow cove behind the house, and one of them kicked the ball into the water.”
Mother and son went out in the canoe after the ball but strong winds overturned the canoe.
With Dave Goldiner
