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| Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy | |
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| Born | January 7, 1966 White Plains, Westchester County, New York |
| Died | July 16 1999 (aged 33) Atlantic Ocean |
| Education | Boston University |
| Spouse | John F. Kennedy, Jr. (1996 - 1999; his and her death) |
| Parents | William J. Bessette (step-father)and Ann Messina |
Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy (January 7, 1966 – July 16, 1999), née Carolyn Jeanne Bessette, was the wife of John F. Kennedy, Jr., the son of assassinated U.S. President John F. Kennedy. She died at age 33, along with her husband and her sister Lauren Bessette, when the private plane that her husband was piloting crashed in the Atlantic Ocean near Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Their ashes were scattered at sea on July 22 1999. Bessette-Kennedy was born in White Plains, Westchester County, New York, the youngest daughter of Dr. William J. Bessette and his then-wife, née Ann Messina, an administrator in the New York public school system. She grew up in affluent Greenwich, Connecticut, and attended St. Mary's High School, where she was voted an "All-Around Beautiful Person". After graduating from Boston University in 1988, she went to work at a Calvin Klein store in Boston. With her classic, cool blonde looks, Bessette occasionally worked as a model in New York City, before becoming a publicist for Calvin Klein, where she met Kennedy. The attractive couple became a popular paparazzi target, with gossip columns detailing where they ate, shopped and even arguments they had. Photographers waited outside their Tribeca apartment to snap photographs. Bessette was reportedly very uncomfortable with the media frenzy and the repeated comparisons to Jacqueline Kennedy. She married Kennedy on September 21, 1996 on Cumberland Island, Georgia in an historic Baptist church. The wedding was small and secret in an effort to elude the media. On July 16 1999, Bessette-Kennedy left Essex County Airport in Fairfield Township, New Jersey in a small plane piloted by her husband to attend a family wedding in Hyannis, Massachusetts. Her sister Lauren (who was survived by a twin, Lisa Ann) was to be dropped off at Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts before the couple continued on to their destination. Due to a confluence of circumstances, including poor visibility at nightfall, Kennedy's relative inexperience in these conditions as well as having a recently healed broken leg, he lost his bearings and the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, approximately seven miles off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. The world was riveted to the television for days afterwards, as their plane was reported missing and a rescue operation was launched. All three were killed in the crash. In 2005, close friend Carole Radziwill published her memoirs, containing fond memories of Carolyn and John. Bessette's blonde hair coloring was the model for that of the "Bergdorf Blondes" in the 2004 novel by Plum Sykes.
