Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy

Carolyn-Bessette Kennedy

Carolyn-Bessette and John Kennedy, Jr. began dating in 1994 and became a popular gossip topic, with papers detailing where they ate, shopped, and even their arguments. Paparazzi often waited outside the couple's Tribeca apartment to snap photographs. Many were impressed with Carolyn's style and grace. 

In September of 1996, the couple kept their much anticipated wedding a secret from the press. It was a candlelight ceremony on a remote Georgia island in a tiny wooden chapel where the groom's sister, Caroline Kennedy, was matron of honor. John's uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy told the press: 

"You could tell right away that there was something special between the two of them."

After the wedding, the media attention surrounding the couple intensified, and Carolyn often found it difficult to deal with the harassment. When the couple returned from their Honeymoon in Turkey, reporters were waiting for them on their doorstep. John went to the paparazzi and said "Getting married is a big adjustment for us, and for a private citizen like Carolyn even more so. I ask you to give her all the privacy and room you can." 

Carolyn refused to give interviews and turned down offers to appear in fashion magazines. She instead became more involved with charity work and often accompanied her husband to dinners at the White House. 

Carolyn died on July 16, 1999 along with her older sister Lauren and husband John, when the plane he was piloting crashed into the ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. 

After a five day search, the wreckage was discovered in the late afternoon of July 21.Toxicology testing showed all were negative for alcohol and drugs.The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the crash was: "The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during a descent over water at night, which was a result of spatial disorientation. Factors in the accident were haze and the dark night."  In the late hours of July 21, the three bodies were taken and cremated in the Mayflower Cemetery crematorium. On the morning of July 22, their ashes were scattered from the Navy ship USS Briscoe off the coast of Martha's Vineyard.

Vocabulary:

1. gossip - talking about other people

2. paparazzi - celebrity photographer

3. Tribeca - cool neighborhood in NYC

4. anticipated - excited to wait for

5. harassment - to bother 

6. haze - fog, unclear air

7. descent - airplane flying down

8. spatial disorientation - getting confused about direction

9. crematorium - where bodies are cremated (burned to ash)

10. NTSB - National Transportation Safety Board - make laws and rules of the skyways

Grammar:

Several verbs in the above post are in the past tense. Many are easily identified by the -ed ending. Find 5 from the passage and put them in present tense. 

Example: shopped - shop

 Read more about past tense; https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/verbs/past-tense-verb-chart.html