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The Kennedys remember their late relatives via Zoom calls© David McKean

How the Kennedy family is coping with the tragic loss of Maeve and son Gideon

Robert F. Kennedy’s granddaughter has been presumed dead following a canoe accident


UPDATED APRIL 6, 2020 6:07 PM EDT

The Kennedy family is grieving the loss of Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean and her son Gideon. While the  coronavirus  pandemic has prevented the American political family from physically being together during this tragic time, they are pulling together to remember their late relatives via “daily Zoom calls,” a friend of the family told People magazine. There are also plans to have a memorial service “at some point in the future.” The insider added, “This is such a horrible time to lose somebody. Everyone’s trying to be careful.”

The Kennedy family held a prayer service via Zoom in honor of their late relatives© Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The Kennedy family held a prayer service via Zoom in honor of their late relatives

Over the weekend, family members participated in a Zoom prayer service led by Timothy Shriver. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared screenshots of the Kennedy, Shriver, Lawford, McKelvey, Allen, Schlossberg, Schwarzenegger and Cuomo cousins holding up their hands in the shape of hearts during the service.  Maria Shriver  and  Katherine Schwarzenegger  appear to be among the relatives who participated in the video conference.

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Maeve was the granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, brother of former   President John F. Kennedy  .  The 40-year-old and her eight-year-old son have been presumed dead  after they went missing following a canoe accident last Thursday. The mother-son duo boarded the canoe on Chesapeake Bay to retrieve a ball that got kicked into the water. On April 2, the vessel was found capsized miles away by the Coast Guard. One day later on April 3, Maeve’s husband David McKean wrote on social media, “It has been more than 24 hours, and the chances they have survived are impossibly small. It is clear that Maeve and Gideon have passed away. The search for their recovery will continue, and I hope that that will be successful.”

The family was self-quarantining at a house owned by Maeve’s mother, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. David revealed that they decided to go to the property because they were “hoping to give our kids more space than we have at home in DC to run around.” Aside from Gideon, Maeve shared seven-year-old daughter Gabriella and two-year-old son Toby with her husband. In his emotional post, David penned, “As Gabriella and Toby lay sleeping next to me last night, I promised them that I would do my best to be the parent that Maeve was, and to be the person that Gideon clearly would have grown up to be. Part of that is keeping their memories alive.”