Farewell, Eunice Kennedy Shriver

Like most Americans I can’t help but be fascinated by the Kennedy family. Their contributions to society, coupled with their great personal tragedies, make them compelling, often enigmatic figures. However, as Kennedy family members go, Eunice Kennedy Shriver always managed to hold herself above the fray. As the founder of the Special Olympics, she seemed more benevolent and less drawn to scandal than some of her more high-profile siblings. This is precisely why we read about her passing, which happened early Tuesday morning in a Cape Cod hospital, with considerable sadness.

Although she’s not the most well-known Kennedy family member, some argue that her contributions are the most lasting — overshadowing even her brother, former President John F. Kennedy.

"When the full judgment of the Kennedy legacy is made — including J.F.K.'s Peace Corps and Alliance for Progress, Robert Kennedy’s passion for civil rights and Ted Kennedy’s efforts on health care, workplace reform and refugees — the changes wrought by Eunice Shriver may well be seen as the most consequential," U.S. News and World Report said in its cover story of Nov. 15, 1993, according to The New York Times.

Shriver had long pushed for the rights of people with intellectual disabilities. Her older sister, Rosemary, who was born mildly retarded, but whose condition worsened when her father arranged for her to have a frontal lobotomy, inspired her to shine a light on a population long kept in the shadows.

Rosemary and her condition were a big family secret until Shriver confessed to it in a 1962 article she wrote for The Saturday Evening Post. That same year she opened a camp for mentally retarded children at her Maryland home. Her efforts eventually morphed into the foundation of the Special Olympics, which launched in the summer of 1968 — the same summer her brother Robert was fatally shot. Today, the Special Olympics honors its founder with many tributes on its website.

It can be hard to quantify the contributions one person makes to society, but her family attempted to in a statement they released this morning.

"She set out to change the world and to change us, and she did that and more. (She) taught us by example and with passion what it means to live a faith-driven life of love and service to others."

Rest in peace.

Photo courtesy of David Lenz via Wikimedia Commons