Josie Fitzgerald (Hannon)

Mary Josephine "Josie" Hannon (October 31, 1865 - August 8, 1964) was the wife of John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, the mother of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, mother-in-law of Joseph P. Kennedy and maternal grandmother of John F., Robert and Ted Kennedy. She is, as of 2008, the only grandparent to live to see a grandchild become president of the United States.

Josephine Hannon was born on October 31, 1865 in Acton, Massachusetts to Irish immigrants Michael Hannon and Mary Ann Fitzgerald, both from County Limerick. She was the fifth of nine children, only four of whom survived. One brother died of fever at the age of six, while Josie's mother was pregnant with her; another had died of a lung inflammation four years earlier. Two sons died early of alcoholism, while the one who survived had his leg crushed by a train at age thirteen. The youngest girl drowned with her best friend while Josie was supposed to be caring for them, an event that would mark her and her two surviving sisters for the rest of their lives.

On September 18, 1889, Hannon married John Fitzgerald.

Mary Fitzgerald died on August 8, 1964, at the age of 98 years, and 9 months. Her death came less than a year after the assassination of her grandson, President John F. Kennedy. Family members claimed she was never told of his death, but that she knew by intuition that he was gone.