More than 3,000 people participated in a virtual memorial for Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, the granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, and her son Gideon on Saturday. Although the event was held on Zoom instead of in person, mourners could feel the pain and tears shared by McKean’s husband, David McKean. David shared the couple’s love story, which included 11 years of marriage, after country singer Kenny Chesney performed “Amazing Grace.”
“I’m going to read this but bear with me if I stumble a little bit along the way,” David started his eulogy, reports PEOPLE. “I had a crush on Maeve from the moment I met her. We said that we loved each other after dating for two weeks. I’ve been going back through old letters and we were talking about growing old together before we’d ever even moved into our first apartment. She wrote to me about how scary it was to be this sure about anything. Weren’t we too young? ‘I know,’ I replied, ‘Won’t this kind of intense love fade?’ I laughed in tears reading those letters because those kids were so young. They had no idea.”
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David said their intense love “never dulled,” but only grew. “It got deeper and more complex and more complete,” he said. “It incorporated our triumphs and our struggles and our joy and our fights and more laughter than anyone could ever expect to a lifetime, and it became the foundation on which we built our lives.”
The father of three shared other stories from their lives, including their international travels and how they got engaged in a parking lot. He said the couple continued writing letters and notes to each other even during their marriage. Next, David called Gideon an “extraordinary child” he was “so proud” of.
“She was always worried about whether they were too cold, or had enough water, or needed a snack,” David said of McKean’s love of their children. “A number of friends, in the last few days, had written to say that being with Maeve has changed their parenting. They say that they say yes to more activities, they get down in the dirt and invent new games, and parent with a sense of intention and wonder and magic.”
In the end, David thanked everyone at the memorial for their support and helping them out. “We’re all so grateful that you’re with us today, but also that you’ve been with us on the road leading here, and that you’ll be with us in the journey that lies ahead. We thank you for your love and your support,” he said.
McKean was the daughter of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the eldest daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy. Gideon and McKean went missing on April 3 when they went out into the Chesapeake Bay in a canoe to find a ball that landed in the water. McKean’s body was found on April 6, about 2.5 miles from her mother’s home. Two days later, police found Gideon’s body about 2,000 feet from where his mother was found. McKean’s cause of death was confirmed as accidental drowning by the Maryland medical examiner.
