Eunice Kennedy Dies at 88
August 11, 2009
By Karen Jeffrey, Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.
HYANNIS -- Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 88, an internationally acclaimed advocate for people with physical and development disabilities, died early this morning at Cape Cod Hospital, according to a statement from the family.
Born into the privilege of one of America's most recognized political families -- the sister of a president and two senators -- Shriver used her platform and her experience as a social worker to speak for those who could not represent themselves.
The fifth of nine children born to Joseph and Rose Kennedy, she was best known as a co-founder of the Special Olympics. The organization grew from Shriver's hope to see people with intellectual disabilities develop confidence and social skills through sports training and competition.
Shriver's death leaves only two surviving Kennedy siblings of her generation. The youngest, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., 77, who has served in the Senate since 1962, was diagnosed with brain cancer last year. Jean Kennedy Smith, 89, served as Ambassador to Ireland under President Bill Clinton.
Shriver and her husband Sergent Shriver spent summers on Cape Cod in a home not far from the family compound in Hyannisport. Two of her children continue to maintain summer homes there. Sargent Shriver, 93, former director of the Peace Corps and a former ambassador to France, survives, but has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
He and other family members including her children, grandchildren and son-in-law Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California, visited her at Cape Cod Hospital throughout the week. Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F. Kennedy, and several of her children were also at Shriver's bedside in Cape Cod Hospital.
The family has not released a cause of death but in the past Shriver survived a series of strokes and in recent months was reported in frail health.
The Kennedys' third child and oldest daughter Rosemary was developmentally challenged and reportedly subject to mood swings. Advised by doctors that she would benefit, Joseph Kennedy Sr. gave permission for a lobotomy, considered a new procedure more than 60 years ago. But the procedure left Rosemary incapacitated and the family moved her to a home in Wisconsin, where she died in 2005 at age 86. Shriver continued to visit her sister throughout her life. It has been said by many that Shriver's relationship with her sister Rosemary promoted her dedication to helping those with mental disabilities.
Shriver has been "an example for all of us," said Denise Whelan, who with her husband, owns Cooke's Seafood in Hyannis. The Whelans' son, Tom, is autistic and has participated in the Special Olympics since he was young. Although she never met Shriver, the Centerville resident said the family is grateful for what the organization has meant to her 25-year-old son.
"He's not really in the position to articulate how he feels but it's obvious to all of us," Whelan said.
Shriver was born July 10, 1921, in Brookline into a family of wealth and political ambition. She grew up in a time when few women of her economic class worked or sought political office. It was her brothers -- both older and younger -- who were groomed for politics, although some people say it could have been her.
"She had the intelligence, the savvy and the stamina that it takes to run for and hold public office," said Stanley Stickley, a former Democratic activist who worked on her brother John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign. Stickley, who has since retired to Reading, said, "Eunice gave a good speech. She could get a crowd going."
Shriver attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart School in Noroton, Conn., and Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., and received a B.S. degree in sociology from Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1943. She worked for the Special War Problems Division of the Department of State, and then headed a juvenile delinquency project in the Department of Justice, according to information from the John F. Kennedy Museum and Library. Later, she became a social worker, and began a career that took her to a women's prison in West Virginia and then to Chicago where she worked at a home for women and children and in the Chicago Juvenile Court.
In 1953, she married Robert Sargent Shriver who in 1948 had joined her father's firm, the Merchandise Mart, in Chicago. Sargent Shriver went on to serve as the first director of the Peace Corps under her brother and eventually served as president of the Special Olympics. The Shrivers have five children: Robert III, Maria, Timothy, Mark, and Anthony. Maria is married to California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In 1957, Shriver became the director of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping those with developmental disabilities and their families. It was established in 1946 as a memorial to Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the oldest Kennedy son, who died in World War II. At the time of her death, Shriver was executive vice-president.
In 1962, she began a summer day camp at her home in Maryland for children and adults with developmental disabilities. That same year, Sargent Shriver sent her to Puerto Rico to get ideas for the camp from the Peace Corp's first training facility, directed by Dr. John O'Neill, 80, who now lives on Nantucket.
"She was absolutely brilliant," O'Neill said. "She knew what she was looking for and she knew the kind of questions to ask. ... "What a mind. She's asking question four, I'm still answering question one."
From her humble day camp grew the Special Olympics, which she and Ann McGlone Burk, an Illinois Supreme Court Justice, founded in 1968.
"She totally transformed the way people with developmental and intellectual disabilities are viewed," said Sarah Cusick, director of community relations for Cape Abilities, which provides employment, therapeutic and social services to people with developmental disabilities.
"That really was unheard of back then," Cusick said. "What she set in motion was not popular at the time." Her life is an inspiration "right up to this moment," Cusick said, noting that many of Cape Abilities clients wear their Special Olympic medal to work.
Funeral plans have not been announced but a family friend said there may be a related service at St. Francis Xavier Church this summer. The church, on South Street, Hyannis, has long been associated with the Kennedy family.
Shriver also is credited with changes in Civil Service regulations that allow persons with developmental issues to be hired on the basis of ability rather than test scores, according to material from Special Olympics. Additionally, she supported centers of medical ethics at Harvard and Georgetown universities, and the "Community of Caring" programs to reduce mental retardation among babies of teenagers.
In 1984, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom 1984 and President Ronald Reagan said about her at the time, "Eunice Kennedy Shriver has labored on behalf of America's least powerful people ... Her decency and goodness have touched the lives of many."
To see more of the Cape Cod Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.capecodonline.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
HYANNIS -- Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 88, an internationally acclaimed advocate for people with physical and development disabilities, died early this morning at Cape Cod Hospital, according to a statement from the family.
Born into the privilege of one of America's most recognized political families -- the sister of a president and two senators -- Shriver used her platform and her experience as a social worker to speak for those who could not represent themselves.
The fifth of nine children born to Joseph and Rose Kennedy, she was best known as a co-founder of the Special Olympics. The organization grew from Shriver's hope to see people with intellectual disabilities develop confidence and social skills through sports training and competition.
Shriver's death leaves only two surviving Kennedy siblings of her generation. The youngest, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., 77, who has served in the Senate since 1962, was diagnosed with brain cancer last year. Jean Kennedy Smith, 89, served as Ambassador to Ireland under President Bill Clinton.
Shriver and her husband Sergent Shriver spent summers on Cape Cod in a home not far from the family compound in Hyannisport. Two of her children continue to maintain summer homes there. Sargent Shriver, 93, former director of the Peace Corps and a former ambassador to France, survives, but has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
He and other family members including her children, grandchildren and son-in-law Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California, visited her at Cape Cod Hospital throughout the week. Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F. Kennedy, and several of her children were also at Shriver's bedside in Cape Cod Hospital.
The family has not released a cause of death but in the past Shriver survived a series of strokes and in recent months was reported in frail health.
The Kennedys' third child and oldest daughter Rosemary was developmentally challenged and reportedly subject to mood swings. Advised by doctors that she would benefit, Joseph Kennedy Sr. gave permission for a lobotomy, considered a new procedure more than 60 years ago. But the procedure left Rosemary incapacitated and the family moved her to a home in Wisconsin, where she died in 2005 at age 86. Shriver continued to visit her sister throughout her life. It has been said by many that Shriver's relationship with her sister Rosemary promoted her dedication to helping those with mental disabilities.
Shriver has been "an example for all of us," said Denise Whelan, who with her husband, owns Cooke's Seafood in Hyannis. The Whelans' son, Tom, is autistic and has participated in the Special Olympics since he was young. Although she never met Shriver, the Centerville resident said the family is grateful for what the organization has meant to her 25-year-old son.
"He's not really in the position to articulate how he feels but it's obvious to all of us," Whelan said.
Shriver was born July 10, 1921, in Brookline into a family of wealth and political ambition. She grew up in a time when few women of her economic class worked or sought political office. It was her brothers -- both older and younger -- who were groomed for politics, although some people say it could have been her.
"She had the intelligence, the savvy and the stamina that it takes to run for and hold public office," said Stanley Stickley, a former Democratic activist who worked on her brother John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign. Stickley, who has since retired to Reading, said, "Eunice gave a good speech. She could get a crowd going."
Shriver attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart School in Noroton, Conn., and Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., and received a B.S. degree in sociology from Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1943. She worked for the Special War Problems Division of the Department of State, and then headed a juvenile delinquency project in the Department of Justice, according to information from the John F. Kennedy Museum and Library. Later, she became a social worker, and began a career that took her to a women's prison in West Virginia and then to Chicago where she worked at a home for women and children and in the Chicago Juvenile Court.
In 1953, she married Robert Sargent Shriver who in 1948 had joined her father's firm, the Merchandise Mart, in Chicago. Sargent Shriver went on to serve as the first director of the Peace Corps under her brother and eventually served as president of the Special Olympics. The Shrivers have five children: Robert III, Maria, Timothy, Mark, and Anthony. Maria is married to California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In 1957, Shriver became the director of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping those with developmental disabilities and their families. It was established in 1946 as a memorial to Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the oldest Kennedy son, who died in World War II. At the time of her death, Shriver was executive vice-president.
In 1962, she began a summer day camp at her home in Maryland for children and adults with developmental disabilities. That same year, Sargent Shriver sent her to Puerto Rico to get ideas for the camp from the Peace Corp's first training facility, directed by Dr. John O'Neill, 80, who now lives on Nantucket.
"She was absolutely brilliant," O'Neill said. "She knew what she was looking for and she knew the kind of questions to ask. ... "What a mind. She's asking question four, I'm still answering question one."
From her humble day camp grew the Special Olympics, which she and Ann McGlone Burk, an Illinois Supreme Court Justice, founded in 1968.
"She totally transformed the way people with developmental and intellectual disabilities are viewed," said Sarah Cusick, director of community relations for Cape Abilities, which provides employment, therapeutic and social services to people with developmental disabilities.
"That really was unheard of back then," Cusick said. "What she set in motion was not popular at the time." Her life is an inspiration "right up to this moment," Cusick said, noting that many of Cape Abilities clients wear their Special Olympic medal to work.
Funeral plans have not been announced but a family friend said there may be a related service at St. Francis Xavier Church this summer. The church, on South Street, Hyannis, has long been associated with the Kennedy family.
Shriver also is credited with changes in Civil Service regulations that allow persons with developmental issues to be hired on the basis of ability rather than test scores, according to material from Special Olympics. Additionally, she supported centers of medical ethics at Harvard and Georgetown universities, and the "Community of Caring" programs to reduce mental retardation among babies of teenagers.
In 1984, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom 1984 and President Ronald Reagan said about her at the time, "Eunice Kennedy Shriver has labored on behalf of America's least powerful people ... Her decency and goodness have touched the lives of many."
To see more of the Cape Cod Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.capecodonline.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
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