Eunice Kennedy Shriver dies at 88 - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

DLevine2 · 08-11-2009, 04:38 PM

BOSTON – President John F. Kennedy's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who carried on the family's public service tradition by founding the Special Olympics and championing the welfare of the mentally disabled, died early Tuesday surrounded by relatives at a Hyannis hospital. She was 88.

Shriver had suffered a series of strokes in recent years and died at Cape Cod Hospital, her family said in a statement. Her husband, her five children and all 19 of her grandchildren were by her side, the statement said.

"She was the light of our lives, a mother, wife, grandmother, sister and aunt who taught us by example and with passion what it means to live a faith-driven life of love and service to others," the family said.

The hospital is near the Kennedy family compound, where her sole surviving brother, Sen. Edward Kennedy, has been battling a brain tumor.

Sen. Kennedy said his earliest memory of his sister was as a young girl "with great humor, sharp wit, and a boundless passion to make a difference."

"She understood deeply the lesson our mother and father taught us — much is expected of those to whom much has been given," he said in a statement. "Throughout her extraordinary life, she touched the lives of millions, and for Eunice that was never enough."

President Barack Obama said Shriver will be remembered as "as a champion for people with intellectual disabilities, and as an extraordinary woman who, as much as anyone, taught our nation — and our world — that no physical or mental barrier can restrain the power of the human spirit."

As celebrity, social worker and activist, Shriver was credited with transforming America's view of the mentally disabled from institutionalized patients to friends, neighbors and athletes. Her efforts were inspired in part by the struggles of her mentally disabled sister, Rosemary.

"We have always been honored to share our mother with people of good will the world over who believe, as she did, that there is no limit to the human spirit," her family said in the statement.

Shriver was also the sister of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, the wife of 1972 vice presidential candidate and former Peace Corps director R. Sargent Shriver, and the mother of former NBC newswoman Maria Shriver, who is married to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. With Eunice Shriver's death, Jean Kennedy Smith becomes the last surviving Kennedy daughter.

Schwarzenegger said his mother-in-law "changed my life by raising such a fantastic daughter, and by putting me on the path to service, starting with drafting me as a coach for the Special Olympics."

A 1960 Chicago Tribune profile of the women in then-candidate JFK's family said Shriver was "generally credited with being the most intellectual and politically minded of all the Kennedy women."

When her brother was in the White House, she pressed for efforts to help troubled young people and the mentally disabled. And in 1968, she started what would become the world's largest athletic competition for mentally disabled children and adults. Now, more than 1 million athletes in more than 160 countries participate in Special Olympics meets each year.

"When the full judgment on the Kennedy legacy is made — including JFK's Peace Corps and Alliance for Progress, Robert Kennedy's passion for civil rights and Ted Kennedy's efforts on health care, work place reform and refugees — the changes wrought by Eunice Shriver may well be seen as the most consequential," Harrison Rainie, author of "Growing Up Kennedy," wrote in U.S. News & World Report in 1993.

It was Shriver who revealed the condition of her sister Rosemary to the nation during her brother's presidency.

"Early in life Rosemary was different," she wrote in a 1962 article for the Saturday Evening Post. "She was slower to crawl, slower to walk and speak. ... Rosemary was mentally ********." Rosemary Kennedy underwent a lobotomy when she was 23, though that wasn't mentioned in the article. She lived most of her life in an institution in Wisconsin and died in 2005 at age 86.

The roots of the Special Olympics go back to a summer camp Shriver ran in Maryland in 1963. Shriver would "get right in the pool with the kids; she'd toss the ball," said a niece, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who volunteered at the camp as a teen. "It's that hands-on, gritty approach that awakened her to the kids' needs."

Realizing the children were far more capable of sports than experts said, Shriver organized the first Special Olympics in 1968 in Chicago. The two-day event drew more than 1,000 participants from 26 states and Canada.

"She believed that people with intellectual disabilities could — individually and collectively — achieve more than anyone thought possible. This much she knew with unbridled faith and certainty," her son Timothy, chairman of Special Olympics said in a statement.

By 2003, the Special Olympics World Summer Games, held that year in Dublin, Ireland, involved more than 6,500 athletes from 150 countries. The games are held every four years.

Well into her 70s, Shriver remained a daily presence at the Special Olympics headquarters in Washington.

"Today we celebrate the life of a woman who had the vision to create our movement," said Special Olympics President and COO Brady Lum.

Juvenile delinquency was another issue that interested Shriver and spurred her to action. In his 1991 book "The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America," author Nicholas Lemann said the Kennedy administration's juvenile delinquency commission, "a pet project that had been created to placate Eunice," became the precursor of the vast federal effort to improve the lot of urban blacks.

After he took office, President Lyndon B. Johnson tapped R. Sargent Shriver to lead his War on Poverty.

Eunice Shriver was the recipient of numerous honors, including the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which she received in 1984. In May, the National Portrait Gallery installed a painting of her — the first portrait commissioned by the museum of someone who had not been a president or first lady.

Shriver was born in Brookline, Mass., the fifth of nine children to Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. She earned a sociology degree from Stanford University in 1943 after graduating from a British boarding school while her father served as ambassador to England.

She was a social worker at a women's prison in Alderson, W.Va., and worked with the juvenile court in Chicago in the 1950s before taking over the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation with the goal of improving the treatment of the mentally disabled. The foundation was named for her oldest brother, Joseph Jr., who was killed in World War II.

In 1953, she married Shriver. He became JFK's first director of the Peace Corps, was George McGovern's vice-presidential running mate in 1972, and ran for president himself briefly in 1976.

Survivors include her husband, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2003, and the couple's five children: Maria Shriver, who is married to Schwarzenegger; Robert, a city councilman in Santa Monica, Calif.; Timothy, chairman of Special Olympics; Mark, an executive at the charity Save the Children; and Anthony, founder and chairman of Best Buddies International, a volunteer organization for the mentally disabled.

In remembrance of Shriver, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston will make condolence books available for the public to sign during normal hours.

PunkyP0WER · 08-11-2009, 05:26 PM

The Kennedy family has had so much tragedy but atleast Eunice lived a full life and left an honorable legacy through her surviving family and causes she believed in.

Family Ties Forever! · 08-11-2009, 05:31 PM

RIP

Marvo301 · 08-11-2009, 05:43 PM

The world would be a better place if there were more people like Eunice Kennedy Shriver who lived what she believed. She had the vision to look at the mentally disabled and see what they could do rather than what they couldn't. Thank-you for opening our eyes to a new way of looking at things and rest in peace.

MickeyMac · 08-11-2009, 05:50 PM

That only leaves Ted Kennedy and Jean Kenendy.

RIP

phoebe7165 · 08-11-2009, 05:56 PM

I never met Eunice but I did see her in Orlando one time. We had gone to the opening of Planet Hollywood, to see the celebrities and got there early to get a good spot. We were standing right up the barrier, and everybody was walking right by us. Since Arnold was one of the major owners along with Sylvester Stallone & Bruce Willis, he was there with Maria, and Eunice was also there with them. Of course, being a follower of the Kennedy family, I knew who she was right away, but people standing around us had no idea.

Eunice

browneyes106 · 08-11-2009, 06:05 PM

RIP Eunice your brought good to the world through Special Olympics.

MrCleveland · 08-11-2009, 07:16 PM

I should be proud of Eunice Kennedy because even though I haven't heard of her until today, she paved the way for many disabled people like me.

Because prior to the 60's, the disabled were locked-away in institutions and they had no voice, not even to vote! But Eunice and JFK gave the disabled opportunities because of the Special Olympics.

Mr. Television · 08-11-2009, 07:34 PM

R.I.P. Eunice.

80sTrivia · 08-11-2009, 07:59 PM

So sad to hear of Mrs. Shriver's passing... my condolences go out to the Kennedy and Shriver family members...

catlover79 · 08-11-2009, 08:01 PM

My thoughts and prayers to Maria and the rest of the Kennedy/Shriver family.

Janice · 08-11-2009, 08:02 PM

A wonderful woman, who did so much for the disabled. Prayers to her and her family.

DLevine2 · 08-11-2009, 08:14 PM

R.I.P. Eunice

Waterston_Fan · 08-11-2009, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MickeyMac

That only leaves Ted Kennedy and Jean Kenendy.

RIP

Wow.. I was wondering who was left other than Ted.

Retro4Life · 08-11-2009, 11:04 PM

Seems like she was a truly decent, caring human being, who made a real difference in millions of lives.

Marv is right, we need more like her.

RIP

08-11-2009, 04:38 PM	#1
DLevine2 DLevine2 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 06, 2006 Location: Fayetteville, Ga. Posts: 2,961	Eunice Kennedy Shriver dies at 88 BOSTON – President John F. Kennedy's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who carried on the family's public service tradition by founding the Special Olympics and championing the welfare of the mentally disabled, died early Tuesday surrounded by relatives at a Hyannis hospital. She was 88. Shriver had suffered a series of strokes in recent years and died at Cape Cod Hospital, her family said in a statement. Her husband, her five children and all 19 of her grandchildren were by her side, the statement said. "She was the light of our lives, a mother, wife, grandmother, sister and aunt who taught us by example and with passion what it means to live a faith-driven life of love and service to others," the family said. The hospital is near the Kennedy family compound, where her sole surviving brother, Sen. Edward Kennedy, has been battling a brain tumor. Sen. Kennedy said his earliest memory of his sister was as a young girl "with great humor, sharp wit, and a boundless passion to make a difference." "She understood deeply the lesson our mother and father taught us — much is expected of those to whom much has been given," he said in a statement. "Throughout her extraordinary life, she touched the lives of millions, and for Eunice that was never enough." President Barack Obama said Shriver will be remembered as "as a champion for people with intellectual disabilities, and as an extraordinary woman who, as much as anyone, taught our nation — and our world — that no physical or mental barrier can restrain the power of the human spirit." As celebrity, social worker and activist, Shriver was credited with transforming America's view of the mentally disabled from institutionalized patients to friends, neighbors and athletes. Her efforts were inspired in part by the struggles of her mentally disabled sister, Rosemary. "We have always been honored to share our mother with people of good will the world over who believe, as she did, that there is no limit to the human spirit," her family said in the statement. Shriver was also the sister of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, the wife of 1972 vice presidential candidate and former Peace Corps director R. Sargent Shriver, and the mother of former NBC newswoman Maria Shriver, who is married to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. With Eunice Shriver's death, Jean Kennedy Smith becomes the last surviving Kennedy daughter. Schwarzenegger said his mother-in-law "changed my life by raising such a fantastic daughter, and by putting me on the path to service, starting with drafting me as a coach for the Special Olympics." A 1960 Chicago Tribune profile of the women in then-candidate JFK's family said Shriver was "generally credited with being the most intellectual and politically minded of all the Kennedy women." When her brother was in the White House, she pressed for efforts to help troubled young people and the mentally disabled. And in 1968, she started what would become the world's largest athletic competition for mentally disabled children and adults. Now, more than 1 million athletes in more than 160 countries participate in Special Olympics meets each year. "When the full judgment on the Kennedy legacy is made — including JFK's Peace Corps and Alliance for Progress, Robert Kennedy's passion for civil rights and Ted Kennedy's efforts on health care, work place reform and refugees — the changes wrought by Eunice Shriver may well be seen as the most consequential," Harrison Rainie, author of "Growing Up Kennedy," wrote in U.S. News & World Report in 1993. It was Shriver who revealed the condition of her sister Rosemary to the nation during her brother's presidency. "Early in life Rosemary was different," she wrote in a 1962 article for the Saturday Evening Post. "She was slower to crawl, slower to walk and speak. ... Rosemary was mentally ********." Rosemary Kennedy underwent a lobotomy when she was 23, though that wasn't mentioned in the article. She lived most of her life in an institution in Wisconsin and died in 2005 at age 86. The roots of the Special Olympics go back to a summer camp Shriver ran in Maryland in 1963. Shriver would "get right in the pool with the kids; she'd toss the ball," said a niece, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who volunteered at the camp as a teen. "It's that hands-on, gritty approach that awakened her to the kids' needs." Realizing the children were far more capable of sports than experts said, Shriver organized the first Special Olympics in 1968 in Chicago. The two-day event drew more than 1,000 participants from 26 states and Canada. "She believed that people with intellectual disabilities could — individually and collectively — achieve more than anyone thought possible. This much she knew with unbridled faith and certainty," her son Timothy, chairman of Special Olympics said in a statement. By 2003, the Special Olympics World Summer Games, held that year in Dublin, Ireland, involved more than 6,500 athletes from 150 countries. The games are held every four years. Well into her 70s, Shriver remained a daily presence at the Special Olympics headquarters in Washington. "Today we celebrate the life of a woman who had the vision to create our movement," said Special Olympics President and COO Brady Lum. Juvenile delinquency was another issue that interested Shriver and spurred her to action. In his 1991 book "The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America," author Nicholas Lemann said the Kennedy administration's juvenile delinquency commission, "a pet project that had been created to placate Eunice," became the precursor of the vast federal effort to improve the lot of urban blacks. After he took office, President Lyndon B. Johnson tapped R. Sargent Shriver to lead his War on Poverty. Eunice Shriver was the recipient of numerous honors, including the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which she received in 1984. In May, the National Portrait Gallery installed a painting of her — the first portrait commissioned by the museum of someone who had not been a president or first lady. Shriver was born in Brookline, Mass., the fifth of nine children to Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. She earned a sociology degree from Stanford University in 1943 after graduating from a British boarding school while her father served as ambassador to England. She was a social worker at a women's prison in Alderson, W.Va., and worked with the juvenile court in Chicago in the 1950s before taking over the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation with the goal of improving the treatment of the mentally disabled. The foundation was named for her oldest brother, Joseph Jr., who was killed in World War II. In 1953, she married Shriver. He became JFK's first director of the Peace Corps, was George McGovern's vice-presidential running mate in 1972, and ran for president himself briefly in 1976. Survivors include her husband, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2003, and the couple's five children: Maria Shriver, who is married to Schwarzenegger; Robert, a city councilman in Santa Monica, Calif.; Timothy, chairman of Special Olympics; Mark, an executive at the charity Save the Children; and Anthony, founder and chairman of Best Buddies International, a volunteer organization for the mentally disabled. In remembrance of Shriver, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston will make condolence books available for the public to sign during normal hours.

08-11-2009, 05:26 PM	#2
PunkyP0WER Member Senior Member Join Date: May 23, 2008 Location: MACY*S on 34th St. Posts: 1,908	The Kennedy family has had so much tragedy but atleast Eunice lived a full life and left an honorable legacy through her surviving family and causes she believed in.
	__________________ Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to. - Fred Gailey & Doris Walker It was the movie that no one thought would be a hit It was the sleeper a studio had no idea how to sell And its success was even more miraculous because this Christmas present was opened in June! Fred & Doris Gailey FOREVER! That's the magic of *macys**

08-11-2009, 05:43 PM	#4
Marvo301 I'm NOT a Blockhead! Forum Celebrity Join Date: May 17, 2002 Location: The Great White North Posts: 21,465	The world would be a better place if there were more people like Eunice Kennedy Shriver who lived what she believed. She had the vision to look at the mentally disabled and see what they could do rather than what they couldn't. Thank-you for opening our eyes to a new way of looking at things and rest in peace.
	__________________ Only a life lived for others is worth living. Albert Einstein A life isn't worth living unless it has impact on other lives. Jackie Robinson Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. Benjamin Franklin

08-11-2009, 05:56 PM	#6
phoebe7165 Pop Culture Goddess Forum Star Join Date: Apr 15, 2003 Location: US of A - the country of "really bad music" lovers Posts: 11,600	I never met Eunice but I did see her in Orlando one time. We had gone to the opening of Planet Hollywood, to see the celebrities and got there early to get a good spot. We were standing right up the barrier, and everybody was walking right by us. Since Arnold was one of the major owners along with Sylvester Stallone & Bruce Willis, he was there with Maria, and Eunice was also there with them. Of course, being a follower of the Kennedy family, I knew who she was right away, but people standing around us had no idea. Eunice
	__________________ Rest in Peace to my Penny-pie. You really were a GREAT dog. I'll see you at the Rainbow Bridge. Penny 9/1/97-12/9/09 Rescued animals make the best pets. Opt to Adopt!!

08-11-2009, 07:16 PM	#8
MrCleveland Drew Carey from Hell Forum Star Join Date: Nov 10, 2007 Location: The City of Cleveland, in The State of Cleveland, in The United States of Cleveland Posts: 14,241	I should be proud of Eunice Kennedy because even though I haven't heard of her until today, she paved the way for many disabled people like me. Because prior to the 60's, the disabled were locked-away in institutions and they had no voice, not even to vote! But Eunice and JFK gave the disabled opportunities because of the Special Olympics.
	__________________ Thank God for kids that love Obscure Things. Lee Hazlewood (1929-2007) You ARE Special to God! Rev. Ernest Angely (August 1921-May 2021)

08-11-2009, 05:31 PM	#3
Family Ties Forever! Member Forum Star Join Date: Apr 16, 2002 Location: Keaton residence Posts: 10,216	RIP

08-11-2009, 05:50 PM	#5
MickeyMac Member Forum Star Join Date: Jun 18, 2008 Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan Posts: 19,008	That only leaves Ted Kennedy and Jean Kenendy. RIP

08-11-2009, 06:05 PM	#7
browneyes106 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Apr 01, 2008 Posts: 6,094	RIP Eunice your brought good to the world through Special Olympics.

08-11-2009, 07:34 PM	#9
Mr. Television 23 Years at Sitcoms Online Forum Icon Join Date: Jun 06, 2003 Location: Somewhere you're Not Posts: 62,144	R.I.P. Eunice.
	__________________ Sonny

08-11-2009, 07:59 PM	#10
80sTrivia Member Forum Celebrity Join Date: May 23, 2002 Posts: 21,714	So sad to hear of Mrs. Shriver's passing... my condolences go out to the Kennedy and Shriver family members...
	__________________ Perfect Gift Books for Pop Culture Fanatics: Thank You for Being a Friend: A Golden Girls Trivia Book The Bouquet Residence: A Keeping Up Appearances Trivia Book Cooking With the Golden Girls: Fun & Delicious Recipes from a Hilarious Miami Kitchen Love in the Afternoon: The Ultimate Soap Opera Trivia Book The Last Great Decade: The Ultimate 90s Trivia Book Betty White: A Celebration

08-11-2009, 08:01 PM	#11
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,396	My thoughts and prayers to Maria and the rest of the Kennedy/Shriver family.
	__________________ "Jesus loves you and He approves this message." "I'm alive. I'm feeling good. I'm trying to live every moment as much as I can." - Valerie Harper, March 2013

08-11-2009, 08:02 PM	#12
Janice Retired Admin - Hollywood Swingin' Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 03, 2001 Location: Beantown Posts: 36,388	Rest In Peace Eunice Kennedy A wonderful woman, who did so much for the disabled. Prayers to her and her family.

08-11-2009, 08:14 PM	#13
DLevine2 DLevine2 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 06, 2006 Location: Fayetteville, Ga. Posts: 2,961	R.I.P. Eunice

08-11-2009, 11:04 PM	#15
Retro4Life Accept No Substitutes Forum Veteran Join Date: Feb 04, 2009 Location: IL Posts: 6,708	Seems like she was a truly decent, caring human being, who made a real difference in millions of lives. Marv is right, we need more like her. RIP
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