‘She was a friend and she was a neighbor’: Ethel Kennedy’s lasting impact on Cape Cod

HYANNIS — A big part of Ethel Kennedy’s legacy will always be on Cape Cod.

That’s why lots of people stopped by the JFK Museum in Hyannis to honor and remember her Thursday.

“She was very smart, knew when to and when not to, she contributed a lot to that family,” said Lynette Beltran.

A smart, strong mother of eleven children and an advocate for human rights are just some of the ways many people will remember Ethel Kennedy.

“Her social activism is just something I’ve always admired, she just seems like a very strong woman, and I really think that our younger people need strong women as examples and so she leaves a grand legacy,” said Lisa Murley, while visiting the JFK Museum.

Ethel Kennedy lived her last years on Cape Cod at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport.

Security was tight there Thursday while two of Ethel’s children, Max and Rory Kennedy, went sailing, hugging each other on the boat just hours after their mother’s death.

Along with sailing, the family loved golfing on the Cape.

Ethel spent a lot of time at the Hyannisport Golf Club. The flag was lowered there to honor her.

“She lived here on Cape Cod, and she was a friend and she was a neighbor and she was a link to history,” said Wendy Northcross, executive director at the JFK Museum.

The JFK Museum set up a tribute to Ethel Thursday.

People signed a condolences book next to her favorite flowers, white roses.

Murley says she got chills coming here after learning the news of her death.

“There will always be something special about that to me, special and sad but I’ll always remember it,” said Murley.

A room at the museum is dedicated to Ethel’s husband Robert F. Kennedy, but you’ll see pictures of her by his side every step of the way, supporting him and their children for decades.

“She was passionate, and she was directed and she was not shy, so she wanted to get something done she had a saying ‘you want to get something done, just do it and things will happen and if you don’t nothing will change,’ and I think she passed that on to her children for sure,” said Northcross.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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