By: Ezra Ashkenazi
This week marks the 20th anniversary of John F. Kennedy Jr.’s horrific plane crash. Kennedy was piloting his plane, the Piper Saratoga II, with his wife Carolyn Bessette, and her sister Lauren on board. It is believed that Kennedy’s inexperience and his disorientation led to the fatal crash into the Atlantic Ocean. JFK Jr.’s wife Carolyn had another sister who wasn’t on board, her name is Lisa Bessette.
Lisa was extremely devastated when she heard the news about her two sisters, and the tragedy caused here to live off the grid, isolated from society. She then settled in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she lives a simple life, with a very small group of friends and no social media accounts. One can’t find any pictures of her online either, her goal was to live an extremely private life after what happened to her family, and she succeeded. A friend of hers spoke about Lisa in a New York Post article saying, “She had a really hard time when they passed away and was strong for her mother and her family and has since decided that she doesn’t want to be in any way public.”
Right after the plane crash, the relationship between the Kennedys and the Bessettes faded away, as the marriage between Caroline and JFK Jr. was never really accepted by both sides. According to The Post, in 2001 the surviving Bessette family decided to disappear after, settling a wrongful-death claim for a reported 15 million dollars. Lisa’s stepfather spoke to The Post regarding their private life saying, “We never cooperate with the media, no interviews, no questions, and that is still our position,”
Lisa is now in a relationship with an Art History professor named Howard Lay. They will both be in Paris for the 20th anniversary of the plane crash, as Lay is teaching a course there for a chunk of the summer. The Post adds that Lisa’s privacy is still guarded with “religious zeal.” The article also interviewed her neighbors who said that, “They don’t socialize… They’re a little quiet.” This tragic plane crash drove Lisa to change her lifestyle completely, and this upcoming anniversary will for sure be an emotional day for her.
(Ezra Ashkenazi is currently an intern in the Jewish Voice Student Journalist Initiative)
