Mourners Bid Farewell to Saoirse Kennedy Hill at Funeral

The 22-year-old granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy was found unresponsive Thursday at the Kennedy compound

Mourners said their final goodbyes Monday to Saoirse Kennedy Hill, the granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy who died last week on Cape Cod at the age of 22.  

The mass for Kennedy Hill was held at Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville Monday morning, four days after she was found unresponsive at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Saoirse died after being taken to Cape Cod Hospital, according to the Cape & Islands district attorney’s office.

Ted Kennedy Jr., former Congressman Joe Kennedy Jr., and current U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III served as pallbearers during the funeral Mass.

Her grandmother, 91-year-old Ethel Kennedy, was also at the funeral.

The Mass was closed to the media, but according to the bulletin, it included words to a song called "When Saoirse's Eyes Are Smiling" to be sung at the conclusion of the service, to the tune of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.'"

A private burial was scheduled to follow the Mass.

A medical examiner stated there were no signs of trauma on the Boston College senior and were waiting on toxicology results before ruling on a cause of death. The New York Times reported that Kennedy Hill died of an apparent drug overdose. NBC News has not confirmed this report.

"The world is a little less beautiful today," Ethel Kennedy, her grandmother, said last week in a statement.

Boston College also issued a statement on the untimely death, in which they called Kennedy Hill a "gifted student."

"We extend our condolences to her family on this tragic loss," the school’s statement said.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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