The Boomer Chronicles

As a longtime newspaper and magazine reporter and basically nosy person, I have had the opportunity to meet a number of celebrities and public figures. Back in the mid- to late-1980s when I was 20-something I had a great little newspaper job. I put together the calendar listings and wrote features for a new weekly in Boston. I was underpaid, but whatever I didn’t get in salary, I got in free tickets to events. Lots and lots of events. So one night I went with a friend to a fancy fundraiser at Quincy Market. (These are the big historic, food vendor-filled buildings in Boston that tourists mistakenly call Faneuil Hall.) Anyway, this fancy party called for special duds. My friend was a collector of antique clothing. She thought it would be a hoot for the two of us to don men’s tuxedoes for the evening. Now, let me point out that this was well before women were wearing tuxedoes as fashion statements. So that night, we turned up in our perfectly tailored suits, ready to wow Boston society. It turns out, however, that there was a Boston socialite, a pretty blonde, who was also sporting a tuxedo: Joan Kennedy, former spouse of Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. We felt bad because we were quite sure we upstaged her, for back then, it was daring for a woman to dress in a tuxedo. So we kept a respectful distance between us and Mrs. Kennedy. Near the end of the night, we went to restroom. Staring into the mirror was Joan. We — all three of us in tuxedoes — faced each other. We scurried out quickly and went home. It would be a while before we donned our tuxedoes again.

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