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| Ee Wiiebebtic Topic ye @ BACKGROUND: 2H Sunday, Oct, 1, 1972, No ‘Whose Money Built Kopechne House? | ‘ ‘ . ~ VERA GLASER and MALVINA STEPHENSON ae .___ WASHINGTON. . HE PARENTS OF MARY JO KOPECHNE,. who drowned T in’Sen, Edward Keniedy’s car three years ago, will soon adopt a new,-affluent life style, . Still not-etitively recovered fram their tragic loss, Josef 7 g suburb: éf\ Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, ‘where they have lived-tor 25 years: : : ‘ They: will leave their modest rented apartment and move into &.custom-built $75,000 rambler in. a secluded area of the sient Pocono mountains an hour’s drive from Mary Jo's grave in Larksville, Pa, The Kepechnes’ * New financial security has revived curiosity about how much Noney they received as a result of their .| daughter's death, Ob- servers have noted from the beginning that the bereaved * parents have care. oth : fully refrained rom . criticizing Kennedy, The Kopechnes 1 The néw home, now nearly complete, is reached through: winding private * roads, It dominates a rise at a 1,900-foot elevation about 40» miles from Wilkes-Barre, . . ‘In the surrounding low-income mining communities, where the Kopechnes have roots and numerous relatives, talk is buzz- ing that the home “was built with Kennedy money,” . The sum awarded the Kopechnes under the senator's auto- mobile liability insurance, after the judge at the inquest found him guilty of “falsehood” and “negligence,” has been a closely guarded secret, . Tf an additional cash settlement were made, the partles in- volved have kept mum about that, too, * T THE CAPITAL, SEN, KENNEDY said he is “aware? . of the settlement, but suggested the figure could come from the Kopechnes" attorney in Wilkes-Barre, . “That was a long time ago; I am not familiar in detail : with. their plans,” Kennedy said: * . | But Joseph Flanagan, the attorney, angrily refused to dig- cuss the settlement or the house. - ' dn‘-the summer and fall of 1969, when Mary Jo's death - * dominated.the headlines, Kopechne retaited a battery of top- notch-Jegal talent, despite his limited means. . ° oa Three attorneys from the sell-known firm of Flanagan and Doran represented him at the-hearing to-block an’ natopsy on- his daughter’s body. : ‘ ‘ and SusifKonechne are pulling up‘stakes in the workitig Class ae a. Sources in the area report the house isproviding new in- terest-for Mrs, Kopechne," whose “nerves are shot.” Kapechne’ Teportedly is “down in the dumps at times,” ‘ In about a year ‘he plans to retire trom his job, selling in- surance. Until then he and his wife will spend weekends im’the new home, , The brick-and-siding residence js on 1% wooded acres, It boasts a breakfast room with fireplace, three bedrooms, two baths, a two-car garage, and glass-walled rear decks overfook- ing a spendid view. . . After the tragedy the Kopechnes dropped’ out of sight, In the last year they have taken an wulisted telephone number, Their new home was discovered by these reporters during an inspection of properties in the scenic Poconos, where the Kopechne's builder Isaac B. Miller owns 700 acres, He sug. pasted a look at a house he had under construction and identi« fied the owner. Jo “I think he got his insurance money for his daughter,” Miller said, adding that Kopechne’s Wilkes-Barre lawyer also “checked me out.’ 7 aan Family sources confirmed the-facts about the house and the insurance settlement, ‘though not the amount, HAE