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Her friends describe Esther, 26, as sophisticated, reasonably chic and tough-minded. "In contrast to some of the other girls in the office," recalls one of Robert Kennedy's former aides, "she gave the impression of having something else in her life besides working for Robert Kennedy. For some of the younger girls, that was all there was." Esther's mother is a former Democratic National Committeewoman from Connecticut. Esther worked for the Senate subcommittee on government reorganization before she joined R.F.K.'s staff in 1968. She now assists the vice president of the Urban Institute in Washington.
Maryellen Lyons
An administrative assistant to a protegee of Ted Kennedy, Massachusetts State Senator Beryl Cohen, Maryellen has on the wall above her desk a placard: HAPPINESS IS TED KENNEDY IN 1972. At the Chicago Convention last summer, the Democratic National Committee praised her as a "woman doer." In 1963, after she was graduated from Regis College in Weston, Mass., Maryellen decided to work in politics. "John Kennedy said that it was the only way to make things better, and that the whole world needed us," she says. Ted Kennedy recruited her to help in Bobby's presidential campaign—"A wild and wonderful day. I thought it was just for the weekend, but they wanted me to stay, and of course I did."
Nance Lyons
Maryellen's sister Nance, 26, shared a Georgetown townhouse with Mary Jo Kopechne and two other girls. She was graduated from the Newton (Mass.) College of the Sacred Heart in 1964, and did public relations for the Norfolk County Tuberculosis and Health Association before she got a job, through an employment agency, in Ted Kennedy's office. Discussing the inquest, she remarks: "Anonymity is the name of the game when you're a staff person, and it's very tough to all of a sudden be in the public eye."
District Attorney Dinis has said that he may call some ten or more witnesses in addition to these. If he has any surprises in store, he is keeping them out of sight. Most likely the supporting cast will be drawn from officials involved in the event—Edgartown Police Chief Dominick Arena and Associate Dukes County Medical Examiner Dr. Donald Mills—and the residents of Edgartown and Chappaquiddick. One of the latter is Christopher ("Huck") Look Jr., a part-time deputy sheriff, who can testify that he saw two people in a black car with the license prefix "L" (Kennedy's license plate was L-78207) heading for the Dike Bridge at approximately 12:45 a.m., an hour and a half after Kennedy said that he and Mary Jo had left for the ferry. Another is Russell Peachey, co-owner of Edgartown's Shiretown Inn, where Kennedy was staying, who could describe the Senator's appearance to ask the time at 2:25 a.m. There is Steve Hewitt, the ferryman, who can help to establish whether Markham spent the night in Edgartown or on Chappaquiddick.
By a strict construction, the law should be concerned with the simple questions: Was Kennedy driving while drunk? Did he drive recklessly? Why did he not report the accident immediately? Dinis can be expected to ask some of the broader questions that devil the public: