Robert F. Kennedy, known across the country as Bobby, married Ethel Skakel on June 17, 1950.
The couple went on to have 11 children: Kathleen, Joseph II, Robert Jr., David, Courtney, Michael, Kerry, Christopher, Maxwell, Douglas and Rory.
Ethel was pregnant with Rory when Bobby was fatally shot on June 6, 1968, moments after he won the California Democratic primary.
David Kennedy died from a drug overdose on April 25, 1984, at age 28. Michael Kennedy was killed on Dec. 31, 1997, during a family trip to Aspen, Colo., when he collided with a tree while skiing and tossing a football at the same time. He was 37 and shared three children with his wife, Victoria Gifford.
Although Ethel’s husband died when their eldest child was just 16, she eventually became a grandmother of 34. Two of her grandchildren also died: Saoirse Hill, the daughter of Courtney and her husband, Paul Hill, died at 22 from an accidental drug overdose in 2019; and Maeve Kennedy McKean, the 40-year-old daughter of Kathleen and her husband, David Townsend, died in a canoeing accident in 2020.