A12 | HOLIDAY EDITION • NOVEMBER 22-23, 2023 NEWS
OBITUARIES
Brenda May Even
May 24, 1953—Sept. 9, 2023
NAPA—It is with great
60 years after JFK’s death,
sadness that we announce
the passing of Brenda May
Even. Brenda was born on
May 24, 1953, at Kaiser
Kennedys choose other paths
Hospital in Vallejo, CA, to HILLEL ITALIE
Leman and Kathryn Brooks. Associated Press
Brenda was one of five NEW YORK — Patrick
siblings and grew up in Kennedy, son of Sen. Ted
Napa, CA, attending Soda Kennedy and nephew of
Canyon Elementary, Red- President John F. Kennedy,
wood Junior High and Napa remembers being a young
state legislator in Rhode Is-
High School. This is also
land some 30 years ago and
where she met her very best hearing encouraging words
friend and husband of 50 from the opposition leader
years, Ronald Even. Brenda at the time.
enjoyed camping, reading, floating on the Russian River “I just want you to know
and murder mystery tv shows. She was known for her that no matter what you
Betty Davis Eyes, her ability to fix anything, and her do, nothing’s going to
spunk. take away from everyone’s
Brenda was unfortunately predeceased in death by memory and appreciation
her son, Shain “Bubba” Even, who was also the love of what your family has
of her life. Brenda was also predeceased by her father, done for this country,” Re-
publican David Dumas told
Leman Books; her mother, Kathryn King; her stepfa- him.
ther, James Kin; sisters, Linda and Pamela Brooks and
“He meant that ‘Don’t
her brother, Dana Brooks. preoccupy yourself with
Brenda is survived by her husband, Ronald Even; worrying about whether
sister, Sherrie Stone; nephews, Chris Stone (Amber), you’re a good representa-
Kurtis White (Jamie) and Jimbo Duncan (Lily); nieces: tive of your family or not,’”
Gay Gagne (Matt), Amie Ridling (Andy), Lori Wheeler Patrick Kennedy, now a
(Kyle), Margaret Booth, Vicki Whipple and Kathy (Ivan) former congressman, said
Leingang and numerous great nieces and nephews. in a recent interview.
Brenda also wanted to acknowledge her close friend, Kennedy spoke shortly
before the 60th anniver-
Chris Dunham and his daughter Alani of whom she
sary of the assassination
considered her granddaughter. of President Kennedy, a
There will not be a service for Brenda as per her seismic national event that
wishes and her remains will be with her son at Tulocay predates most American
Cemetery. Brenda’s family would like to thank Hospice lives but remains an inflec-
for the care they gave in her time of need. tion point in the country’s
history — as a wellspring of
Mary M. Cook modern conspiracy theo-
ries, as a debate over what
Jan. 19, 1941—Nov. 13, 2023 JFK might have achieved,
VALLEJO—Mary was as an emotional corner-
born in Brookings, SD and stone of the Kennedy story.
The anniversary arrives
was raised in Vallejo, CA at an unusual moment for
since the age of one. She the Kennedys. It is a mo-
was the eldest of 5, the ment when the family’s
natural caretaker of her sib- mission to uphold a leg-
lings. At 14 she met the love acy of public service and
of her life, Gary, and at 17 high ideals competes for
they wed and had their first attention with the presi-
child, Terri. Cary was born dential candidacy of Rob-
3 and a half years later. ert F. Kennedy Jr., whose
Mary was an exceptional anti-vaccine advocacy and
inflammatory comments
mother and wife, along
about everything from the
with helping daily at the Holocaust to the pandemic
bicycle shop they owned have led to a rare public
(Authorized). In 1980 she family breach.
became a grandmother for the first time, a position she Robert’s sister, Kerry
was lovingly dedicated to, and became a great-grandma Kennedy, has cited her
in 2010. Mary was quiet, bright, kind, generous and differences with him “on
thoughtful. Her gentle spirit will be greatly missed by many issues,” while Jack
many of us that were fortunate enough to share her life. Schlossberg, grandson of
She was predeceased by her mother and father; hus- President Kennedy, has
called Robert’s candidacy
band Gary; son, Cary; sister, Ruth; grandson, Brad, and
“an embarrassment.”
granddaughter, Emily. Mary is survived by her daugh- “We haven’t seen this
ter, Terri; son-in-law, Patrick; granddaughter Kelly; happening before in the
grandson-in-law, Maui, and great-granddaughters, Kennedy family,” says his-
Audrianna and Alaina. torian Thurston Clarke,
Her service will be held December 1,2023 at 11:00 a.m. author of books on Pres-
with a lunch reception to follow at Tulocay Cemetery ident Kennedy and his
in Napa. brother Robert. “In the
past,” Clarke says, “they
were very reluctant to at-
tack each other.”
Obituary policy Tradition in public eye
Deadline The current prominence
Napa Valley Register of Robert Kennedy Jr. —
Obituaries are printed on Tuesdays, Thursdays and what Patrick expects will
Saturdays. be a footnote to a larger
Tuesday deadline is 10 a.m. PST the previous Saturday. narrative — doesn’t stand
Thursday deadline is Tuesday at 2 p.m. PST. Saturday dead- out merely because of
line is Thursday at 2 p.m. PST. what he says and how it
departs from family his-
tory. It stands out because
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President John F. Kennedy waves from his car in a
motorcade about one minute before he was shot Nov. 22,
1963, in Dallas. Riding with President Kennedy are first lady
Jacqueline Kennedy, right, Nellie Connally, second from left,
and her husband, Texas Gov. John Connally, far left.
he is the rare Kennedy these
days engaged in national
electoral politics.
For generations, the
Kennedy dynasty ranked
with the Adamses, the
Roosevelts and the Bushes.
Their time in public office
dates to the 1890s, to Rep.
(and future Boston Mayor)
John Francis “Honey Fitz”
Fitzgerald, JFK’s grandfa-
ther, and grew throughout
the first half of the 20th
century.
During JFK’s 1960-63
presidency, governing was
decidedly a family affair.
Robert Kennedy was at-
torney general and the
president’s closest ad-
viser, brother-in-law Sar-
gent Shriver was heading
the newly formed Peace
Corps and brother-in-law
Stephen Smith was White
House chief of staff. Young-
est brother Ted Kennedy
was elected to John F. Ken-
nedy’s former Senate seat in
Massachusetts.
The death of President
Kennedy, and Jacqueline
Kennedy’s remembrance
of his administration as a
lost golden age, “Camelot,”
intensified feelings about
the family and longings for
their presence. Ted Ken-
nedy became a revered
liberal voice and legislator,
while Shriver was chosen
as George McGovern’s run-
ning mate in their unsuc-
cessful 1972 presidential
campaign.
Patrick Kennedy was an
eight-term congressman
from Rhode Island; Jo-
seph Kennedy II, Robert’s
son, served six terms as a
congressman from Mas-
sachusetts; and Joseph’s
sibling Kathleen Kennedy
Townsend was a two-term
Maryland lieutenant gover-
nor. Arnold Schwarzeneg-
ger, married at the time to
JFK’s niece Maria Shriver,
was California’s governor
for two terms.
But the Kennedys have
mostly withdrawn from
electoral politics in the
21st century; no Kennedy
or Kennedy in-law cur-
rently serves in Congress
or as a governor. Caroline
Kennedy, JFK’s daughter
and only surviving child,
had been open in 2009 to
replacing Hillary Clinton in
the U.S. Senate after Clin-
ton was appointed secre-
tary of state by President
Barack Obama. She soon
stepped back amid signs
New York Gov. David Pat-
erson would not select her.
He didn’t.
“Given what happened to
their father and uncle, and
given the tough road Ted
Kennedy had to travel, who
can blame them for finding
another road?” says histo-
rian Sean Wilentz. He says
the assassinations of JFK
and Robert Kennedy may
have led to there being “too
much of a burden on the
next generation to carry on
“Given what happened to their father and uncle, and given
the tough road Ted Kennedy had to travel, who can blame
them for finding another road?”
JIM ALTGENS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
and com-
plete what
was left un-
finished.”
Patrick
K e n n e d y,
who left
Congress in
2011 amid Robert F.
s t r u g - Kennedy
gles with
substance
abuse and
bipolar
d i s o r d e r,
agrees the
current po-
litical at-
m os p h e re
Robert F.
is far re-
Kennedy Jr.
moved from
the 1960s,
when lead-
ers such
as JFK had
a sense of
“ co m m o n
p u r p ose .”
But he still
b e l i e v e s Ted Kennedy
public of-
fice is worth
pursuing
and notes
that his wife
Amy ran for
Congress
in 2020 —
unsuccess-
Patrick
fully.
Kennedy
“When
we got out there and cam-
paigned, it was very inspir-
ing,” Patrick Kennedy said.
“There were tons of people
in the grassroots who were
so inspiring — to see how
they were so passionate
about changing the world.”
Administration
remembered in spirit
The Kennedy adminis-
tration now lives on more
in spirit than in firsthand
memory. One of the last
prominent White House
aides, speechwriter Rich-
ard Goodwin, died in 2018.
The last of President Ken-
nedy’s surviving siblings,
former U.S. ambassador to
Ireland Jean Smith, died in
2020. Robert F. Kennedy’s
widow, Ethel, is in her 90s
and rarely comments pub-
licly.
Starting in 1968, after
the assassination of Rob-
ert Kennedy, Ted Kennedy
was the family’s standard
bearer and chosen orator.
But no one has succeeded
him since his death in
2009. The death of Caro-
line’s brother John F. Ken-
nedy Jr. in a 1999 plane
crash ended the life of his
generation’s most prom-
inent family member, the
one most discussed as a
possible presidential can-
didate. Caroline Kennedy
has maintained a low pro-
file as ambassador to Japan
during the Obama admin-
istration and ambassador
to Australia in the Biden
administration.
“That’s an awesome re-
sponsibility and a huge
NAPA VALLEY REGISTER
yoke around your neck to
try and have to carry that,”
Patrick Kennedy says of his
father’s stature. “And Dad
really did it — he really kept
it together. But it was an in-
credible personal toll it took
on him.”
Asked if he would have
liked to take on his father’s
role, Kennedy says no:
“That chapter is closed.”
In the absence of any
old-style family elder, the
Kennedy most talked about
is RFK Jr., who has attracted
a larger following than most
independent candidates.
Historian Julian E. Zelizer,
author of numerous works
on contemporary politics,
sees JFK and his brother
Robert as “unifying fig-
ures” while finding Robert
Jr. a symbol of “division,
distrust and a kind of skep-
ticism about the public cul-
ture.”
Patrick Kennedy, who
otherwise declined to dis-
cuss his cousin at length,
called Zelizer’s comments
“a pretty fair statement.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did
not immediately respond
to requests for comment
but issued a statement on
the anniversary and on his
uncle’s legacy.
“During his term in of-
fice, he upheld a vision
of America as a nation of
peace, a vision that was
abandoned after his death,”
said Kennedy, who prom-
ised to “put us back on the
road to peace.”
Other family members
remain active in various
causes, though in a less
publicized way than in
JFK’s time.
Besides Caroline, several
Kennedys hold positions in
the Biden administration,
including Joseph Kennedy
III, grandson of Robert
Kennedy, who is special
envoy to Northern Ireland;
and Victoria Reggie Ken-
nedy, Ted Kennedy’s widow
and now ambassador to
Austria.
Patrick Kennedy is
founder of the mental
health advocacy group
Alignment for Progress
and notes that the last bill
signed into law by JFK, the
Community Mental Health
Act, is “the foundation of a
modern day movement to
restore a community based
approach to our mental
health and addiction cri-
sis.”
Timothy Shriver chairs
the board of the Spe-
cial Olympics, which his
mother (and President
Kennedy’s sister) Eunice
Shriver helped establish
in the 1960s. Kerry Ken-
nedy, Robert’s daughter,
is a human rights lawyer
who heads the non-profit
RFK Human Rights. Ker-
ry’s sister Rory Kennedy is
a prize-winning documen-
tary maker whose subjects
have ranged from rural Mis-
sissippi and the Iraq War to
a film about her mother,
Ethel.
“There are many other
ways to serve the public
than running for elective
office,” says political an-
alyst Larry Sabato. “No
one could say the Kennedy
family hasn’t made many
contributions to public life
— and sacrifices, too.”
“I can literally go through
all of my family and there
isn’t one who’s not out
there doing something,”
says Patrick Kennedy, who
finds his name still holds
great influence in his cur-
rent work. “I’ve been out
of office since 2011, and I
can get anyone to return
my call.”
Sean Wilentz, historian
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