Mary Jo Kopechne
Early life and education
Kopechne was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, although she is sometimes described as being from nearby Forty Fort, Pennsylvania. She was the only child of homemaker Gwen (née Jennings) and insurance salesman Joseph Kopechne. Kopechne was of part-Polish heritage through her father. Her grandfathers both worked as coal miners in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Her family history in the Wyoming Valley area of northeastern Pennsylvania traces back 250 years on her maternal side.
Early life and education
When Kopechne was an infant, her family moved to Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. She was raised Catholic and attended parochial schools, graduating in 1958 from Our Lady of the Valley High School in Orange, New Jersey. She graduated with a degree in business administration from Caldwell College for Women in 1962.
Career
Kopechne was inspired by President John F. Kennedy's inaugural command "Ask what you can do for your country". After graduation, Kopechne moved to Montgomery, Alabama, for a year at the Mission of St. Jude, which participated in the Civil Rights Movement. She also taught business classes in typing and shorthand at Montgomery Catholic High School, and was an advisor to the school newspaper. One former student recalled her as
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