It was 50 years ago today that Sen. Ted Kennedy drove off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts, cutting short the life of a woman who had a brief but lasting connection to Alabama.

Mary Jo Kopechne, who was 28 when she died in Kennedy’s car, taught at Montgomery Catholic High School during the 1962-63 school year.

Kay Allen Hassett, then a student at Montgomery Catholic, said Kopechne taught typing and shorthand but had a personality that radiated beyond the classroom.

“I remember her as a petite strawberry blonde with pep in her step,” Hassett said in an email. “She had confidence and a zest for life that was intriguing. Her smile lit up a room. She was humble and kind and stood firm in her beliefs. She was a positive role model and motivator for students. Tough but fun in the classroom, creating speed challenges, expecting accuracy, and rewarding generously.”

Kopechne was sponsor of the school newspaper, “Dixie Echoes”, and Hassett said she worked diligently with students to meet deadlines, type pages, correct stories, and check layouts.

“It was a stepping stone for a bigger future,” Hassett said. “By knowing Mary Jo, I learned ‘life is what you make it.’”

Author and historian William Kashatus, who is writing a book about Kopechne, said she drew inspiration from John F. Kennedy’s message of “ask what you can do for your country.” Kopechne, who was originally from Pennsylvania and grew up in New Jersey, headed south to Montgomery after graduating from Caldwell College partly because of her interest in the civil rights movement, Kashatus said.

Hassett said Kopechne did not talk to her about the civil rights movement. But Hassett said it was clear Kopechne cared about fairness and equality.

“She was by nature a fearless, driven and focused young woman; passionate for social justice and making a difference,” Hassett said.

A few years after leaving Montgomery, Kopechne joined the staff of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and later worked on RFK’s 1968 presidential campaign.

According to an article Kashatus wrote for the History News Network, Kophechne stood out in Kennedy’s campaign for her work, which included tracking how Democratic delegates from states were likely to vote. Kopechne and five other young women on the campaign were dubbed the “Boiler Room Girls” because they worked in an office without windows on L Street in Washington, D.C.

Mary Jo Kopechne with Sen. Robert F. Kennedy of New York. Kophechne worked on Kennedy's staff and his 1968 presidential campaign. (Kopechne Estate)

Kashatus wrote:

“Of all the Boiler Room Girls, Kopechne was the ‘the most politically astute,’ according to Dun Gifford, who supervised the operation. Mary Jo had an exceptional ability to stay ahead of fluctuating intelligence on delegates. That ability allowed her to negotiate deals on RFK’s behalf, to travel with him when necessary and even to offer her opinions when she had the best working knowledge of a situation.

“Had Bobby won the election, Mary Jo would have been rewarded with a very significant job in his administration,” added Gifford.

RFK’s campaign ended when he was assassinated in Los Angeles in June 1968 after winning the California Democratic primary.

It was a little over a year later when Kophechne attended a party for the “Boiler Room Girls” hosted by Ted Kennedy at Chappaquiddick, an island at the east end of Martha’s Vineyard. After the party, Kopechne accepted Kennedy’s offer for a ride back to her hotel on Martha’s Vineyard. But Kennedy’s Oldsmobile veered off a narrow bridge and overturned.

Kennedy escaped but Kopechne remained trapped in the car and died. Kennedy said he tried unsuccessfully to rescue her. He did not report the accident to police until 10 hours later. Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a two-month suspended jail sentence.

In a phone interview today, Kashatus said he decided to write a book about Kopechne because he thought her story had never been told.

“The Kennedys treated her like collateral damage to the Chappaquiddick incident,” Kashatus said. "So did the Washington political establishment.

“I felt that there were a number of sensationalist books that came out about her, some more strongly suggesting that she was an opportunist who was having a sexual liaison with not only Ted Kennedy but his brother Robert and she was a hanger-on. None of those things were true.”

Kashatus, who has written 30 books, said he researched the book on Kopechne for more than 10 years. His interest came partly from common roots with Kopechne. Their families didn’t know each other but both came from a coal-mining region in northeastern Pennsylvania called Wyoming Valley.

“My family was much like the Kopechne family as well as many of the families that were from that area in the 1930s, 40s and 50s,” Kashatus said. "After the mines closed down, they went to places like Philadelphia and New Jersey and they found employment but they kept their roots to Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Valley. They’d come back like we did on weekends, in the summers, for holidays and had every intention of retiring there.

“It’s also an area where the people have a strong work ethic, very strongly Catholic at that period of time, and they raised their kids to respect themselves, respect other people and work hard. And she really represented that to me.”

His book, "Before Chappaquiddick: The Untold Story of Mary Jo Kopechne,” is expected to be published next spring by Potomac Books, a subsidiary of the University of Nebraska Press.

This story was edited at 7:40 a,m. on July 19 to correct the spelling of Kopechne’s name in the book title. Edited at 3:37 p.m. on July 19 to add photo of former Montgomery Catholic High School building.