Julia Thorne
{{short description|American politician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| office = Second Lady of Massachusetts
| lieutenant_governor = John Kerry
| term_label = In role
| term_start = March 6, 1983
| term_end = January 2, 1985
| predecessor = Susan Dwight (1975)
| successor = Jan Cellucci (1991)
| birth_name = Julia Stimson Thorne
| birth_date = {{birth date|1944|9|16}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2006|4|27|1944|9|16}}
| death_place = Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_cause = Cancer
| occupation = Writer
| relatives = {{ubl|David S. Barry (great-grandfather)|David Thorne (brother)}}
| spouse = {{unbulleted list|{{marriage|John Kerry|1970|1988|end=divorced}}|{{marriage|Richard Charlesworth|1997}}}}
| children = {{unbulleted list|Alexandra Kerry|Vanessa Kerry}}
}}
Julia Stimson Thorne (September 16, 1944 – April 27, 2006) was an American writer. She was the first wife of John Kerry, who was U.S. Senator during their marriage.
Biography
Thorne was born in New York City on September 16, 1944, the daughter of Alice (Barry) and Landon Ketchum Thorne Jr.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/37638425|title=Julia Thorne, 61; Author Was Former Wife of John Kerry|date=April 29, 2006|work=The Los Angeles Times|access-date=October 21, 2019|via=Newspapers.com}} Her maternal great-grandfather was journalist David S. Barry.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/37693730/|title=Julia Stimson Thorne Bride of John Kerry|last=Randolph|first=Nancy|date=May 24, 1970|work=Daily News|access-date=October 22, 2019|via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=John Kerry Weds Miss Julia Thorne |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/05/24/archives/john-kerry-weds-miss-julia-thorne.html |work=The New York Times |date=May 24, 1970}} Thorne spent much of her childhood in Rome where her father worked various jobs.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/37639368/|title=Defying Depression|last=Doten|first=Patti|date=March 8, 1994|work=The Boston Globe|access-date=October 21, 2019|page=51|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/37639551/|title=Defying Depression|date=March 8, 1994|work=The Boston Globe|access-date=October 21, 2019|page=55|via=Newspapers.com}} She graduated from the Foxcroft School in 1962. She also took some classes at the New York School of Interior Design and at Radcliffe.
Julia Thorne was a direct eleventh generation descendant of John Bowne, a defiant activist in the struggle for religious freedom. William Thorne Sr., third signatory of the Flushing Remonstrance is also an ancestor. Thorne was also a distant cousin of her husband John Kerry through their common ancestor Elizabeth Fones.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}
Thorne married John Kerry on May 23, 1970, and wore a dress that was over "two centuries old." She and Kerry had two daughters together, Alexandra Forbes Kerry and Vanessa Bradford Kerry. During their marriage, Julia began showing signs of depression and later wrote that she had at one time contemplated suicide. In the 1980s, she created a nonprofit called the Depression Initiative to educate people about depression. Thorne and Kerry were divorced on July 25, 1988 after a six-year separation. She overcame depression by 1990, and by all accounts the two had an amicable relationship.{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtonian.com/people/madame_ex.html |title=Madame Ex |access-date=April 29, 2006 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051123094018/http://www.washingtonian.com/people/madame_ex.html |archive-date=November 23, 2005 }}; The Washingtonian; July 1996 She married Richard J. Charlesworth in 1997 and they moved to Bozeman, Montana. She continued to be supportive of Kerry's run for president in 2004.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/37695146/|title=A Slight Problem With the Kerry Profile|last=Beam|first=Alex|date=December 3, 2002|work=The Boston Globe|access-date=October 22, 2019|via=Newspapers.com}} Thorne died from cancer on April 27, 2006, in her home in Concord, Massachusetts.
Books
Her book, You Are Not Alone: Words of Experience and Hope for the Journey Through Depression (1993) (with Larry Rothstein) ({{ISBN|0-06-096977-6}}) collects accounts of different people who have faced depression. Ann Landers wrote that "this little book could be a lifesaver and the best $10 you will ever spend."{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/37639865/|title=New Book Deals With Illness 21 Million Suffer|last=Landers|first=Ann|date=December 5, 1993|work=The Press-Tribune|access-date=October 21, 2019|via=Newspapers.com}}
A Change of Heart: Words of Experience and Hope for the Journey Through Divorce (1996) ({{ISBN|0-06-095105-2}})
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.wargs.com/political/thorne.html Julia Stimson Thorne's Family Tree]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20051028000530/http://thorn.pair.com/williamthorne1/d4614.htm#P4614 Another Thorne Family Tree, with navigable links through the generations]
{{John Kerry}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:American motivational writers
Category:Women motivational writers
Category:Deaths from cancer in Massachusetts
Category:Deaths from bladder cancer in the United States
Category:Writers from Bozeman, Montana
Category:Politicians from Concord, Massachusetts
Category:Writers from New York City