TRIBUTES were sent from the Limerick ancestral home of assassinated US President John F Kennedy to America following the death of the former president’s granddaughter Tatiana Schlossberg.
The 35-year-old US journalist, who had given birth to her second child last May, was laid to rest on January 5, six days after her death, following treatment for a rare cancer.
Ms Schlossberg visited the town of Bruff, County Limerick, her late famous grandfather’s ancestral home, in 2013.
The annual Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Autumn School in Bruff expressed its grief and sadness at Ms Schlossberg’s death.
A life-sized bronze statue of JFK was unveiled in Bruff in 2019. The statue depicts President Kennedy holding a bible at his swearing in ceremony in 1961, which was brought from Bruff to the US by his great-grandfather, Thomas Fitzgerald, when he emigrated to Boston in 1852.
Declan Hehir, director of the Autumn School, said everyone in Bruff was “keenly feeling the tragic death of Tatiana, who had visited the town with her parents, Caroline and Edwin Schlossberg, and her siblings Rose and Jack”.
“We have very fond memories of that visit. The family really enjoyed visiting so many ancestral venues in Bruff. Three of the grandparents of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (mother of President Kennedy) hailed from Bruff and those ties are the inspiration for the annual Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Autumn School,” said Mr Hehir.
Eileen McMahon, from Adare, one of many Limerick cousins of the Kennedy political dynasty, recalled having lunch with Ms Schlossberg and her family when they visited Bruff twelve years ago.
“She was a lovely young woman and she really enjoyed connecting with her Limerick cousins and seeing the various local sites around Bruff associated with the Fitzgerald-Kennedy clan,” Ms McMahon said.