Ted Kennedy and Vicki Kennedy: A New Englander and an Acadian

Essay: It's late Tuesday night the 25th of August 2009, just before midnight. The flickering flame from a candle that lights the room of Camelot's "Last Knight", is extinguished by a breeze that has drifted in from an open window that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. 

Senator Ted Kennedy, the youngest and sole surviving brother of America's most well known political dynasty, a man affectionately known amongst his peers as "The Lion of the Senate", is dead at age 77.  Complications from a brain tumor has ended the life of one of the most dedicated and accomplished Senators in American history. For more than 47 years, Senator Ted Kennedy the consummate Democrat, represented and championed with great purpose and zeal the interests of all Americans, but in particular Senator Kennedy chose to be the voice of Americans who cannot afford high priced lawyers and lobbyists to represent the issues that are most important to them and their community. 

It was because of his appreciation of America's "Blue Collar" worker, that the Senator from Massachusetts was loved by millions of hard working Americans as a reliable friend in Washington D.C. Since 1962, Ted Kennedy proved that he was willing to fight for issues concerning the paycheck, the health and the overall well being of all "Blue Collar" families across our nation. Whether the goal was improving public schools, co-authoring legislation that enabled injured American workers to receive disability pay, providing an opportunity for all Americans to receive affordable health care, raising the minimum wage or protecting American civil rights, Ted Kennedy dedicated his life to helping all Americans who believe that although they may have to work overtime at the plant for the next four years to put their kid through college, the key to achieving the American Dream is and will always be through hard work and dedication. 

Just ask the patrons of Boston's Black Rose Irish Pub, located on 160th State Street in Boston, Massachusetts.  The Black Rose Pub is a well known Irish Pub that conjures an era when locals congregated to their favorite watering hole in order to discuss God, their family, work and of course, politics.  Go to the Black Rose today and ask any patron who is engaged in political dialogue, if hypothetically they were given the opportunity to select just one elected official to best represent their concerns and their needs in Washington D.C., who would they would chose as their representative?  Without a doubt, they would respond with raised beer mugs and in unison gleefully shout with thickened New England accent, the name "Teddy". 

It is often stated that behind every "Good Man" is a "Great Woman".  Senator Ted Kennedy would have agreed.  For slightly more than 17 years Senator Kennedy was married to his loving and devoted wife Vicki. Vicki Kennedy was the glue that mended the broken pieces of Senator Ted Kennedy's once turbulent life back together. Much has been written about Ted Kennedy's past life as a heavy drinker to include the consequences that followed his abuse of alcohol.  The very mention of the word "Chappaquiddick" is synonymous today with bad judgment and tragedy, a tragedy that resulted in the lost of a young lady's life, the eventual breakup of Senator Kennedy's first marriage and the shattering of any dream that the Senator may have had of one day winning the U.S. Presidency. 

Born in Crowley, Louisiana in February 1954, Vicki Kennedy was one of six children born to Edmund and Doris Ann Reggie.  Vicki's father Edmund, whose ancestors had originally immigrated from Lebanon, served as a Louisianan Judge for more than twenty five years.  (1951 - 1976)  It is widely believed that at the youthful age of 24, Edmund Reggie was the youngest appointed judge in American history.  Both of Vicki's parents were heavily involved in the Democratic Party and both had close ties to Senator Kennedy's brother JFK.  The Reggie and Kennedy association began in 1956 at the Democratic National Convention where JFK ran on the Democratic ticket as Adlai Stevenson's Vice President Candidate. It was from these early years that a solid friendship which had been built upon mutual trust and respect developed between both families. 

As decades progressed, Vicki Reggie the daughter of a famous Louisianan judge, eventually attended Newcomb College in New Orleans, Louisiana and graduated magna cum laude with a BA in English. Following her undergraduate work at Newcomb, Vicki earned a law degree from Tulane University, where she also graduated from with academic honors.

As Vicki traveled down her own path in life, chance enabled her to serve as an intern at Senator Kennedy's Senate Office; however, the two did not really become acquainted until 1991 where by fate the two attended an anniversary party of a mutual friend.  Friendship between the two quickly blossomed into love and within a year they became engaged and married. 

The young lady from Louisiana whose family personally knew JFK and whose family had deep Democratic Party bonds had married the "Last Knight" from Camelot.  For over 17 years Ted and Vicki shared their lives together as husband and wife.  Vicki Kennedy was the right woman who came into Ted Kennedy's life at the right time in order to help him accomplish his commitment to working class Americans. 

Up until his final moments, Vicki Reggie- Kennedy, mother and wife, administered to the care and needs of her husband and friend, Senator Ted Kennedy. If one listens closely, they may be able to hear the melody of a mixture of Irish and Acadian music played throughout the halls of a special place that we Americans once called Camelot.  Somewhere in heaven we imagine Huey P. Long handing the Senator another plate of crawfish and a cold beer.  Rest in peace Senator Kennedy, we Louisianans appreciated you.