Joan Haverty
Joan Haverty was the girlfriend of Bill Cannastra, a close friend of
Jack Kerouac's,
when Cannastra was suddenly killed in a bizarre subway train accident
near the Bleecker Street station (he pretended to climb out the train
window while the train was moving, got stuck, and smashed into a pillar).
Kerouac comforted Joan and, irrationally and impulsively, married her a
month later. She was twenty years old, and Jack was twenty-eight.
The marriage, Jack's second, lasted no longer than his first. Joan gave
birth to a daughter, but Jack denied the paternity and later fought long
legal battles to prevent any legal connection between himself and the child.
Jan Kerouac
went on to write a well-regarded book, 'Baby Driver,' and it is now generally
accepted that she is indeed Jack's biological daughter.
Literary Kicks
by
Levi Asher