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Eunice Kennedy in 2007 - Source: Reuters -
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Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who emerged from a powerful
male-dominated political family to found the Special Olympics and
become a leading advocate of the mentally disabled, died at the age
of 88 in August 2009.
Shriver, the sister of former President John F Kennedy, died at
Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, the Massachusetts town on Cape Cod
synonymous with the Kennedy dynasty.
"Her work transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of people
across the globe and they in turn are her living legacy," her
family said in a statement.
US President Barack Obama praised Shriver's Special Olympics work
and called her 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.
In March, Obama apologised for comparing his bowling skills to
those of Special Olympics participants during an appearance on The
Tonight Show television programme.
Shriver was married to Sargent Shriver, whose long public service
included starting the Peace Corps under President Kennedy.
Sargent, 93, a former vice presidential candidate, suffers from
Alzheimer's disease.
She was born July 10, 1921, the middle child of the nine children
of Joseph P Kennedy Sr and his wife, Rose.
As a child, she wanted to compete athletically against her
brothers, including John, elected president in 1960 and
assassinated in 1963; Robert, a New York senator whose presidential
bid ended with his assassination in 1968; and Edward, who has
served as a senator from Massachusetts for more than 45
years.
Loyal and loving
At the time of her death, her brother Edward Kennedy who died later
that same month, said in a statement that even as a child his
sister had a boundless passion to make a difference.
"Though the Special Olympics will be her enduring monument, in our
family she'll be remembered as a loyal and loving sister, a
treasured wife to Sarge, and a wonderful mother and grandmother,"
he said.
Shriver was always a part of her Democratic brothers' political
campaigns but her advocacy work crossed party lines.
Republican President Ronald Reagan praised her enormous conviction
and unrelenting effort ... on behalf of America's least powerful
people in 1984 when he awarded her the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Well into her 80s, Shriver still was seen in the halls of the US
Capitol seeking support for her cause.
She started the Special Olympics Games in 1968 to foster fitness
and self-esteem for the mentally handicapped.
Her concern was attributed to her relationship with older sister
Rosemary, who was said to have been mildly retarded and spent much
of her life in long-time care after a lobotomy.
"I had enormous affection for Rosie," Shriver said in a radio
interview in 2007.
"If I never met Rosemary, never known anything about handicapped
children, how would I have ever found out? Because nobody accepted
them anyplace."
The genesis for the Special Olympics was the summer camps that
Shriver put on herself for mentally handicapped children at her
family's Maryland estate.
Forty years after the first US Special Olympics, the games have
grown to include 190 nations.
Beyond an athletic competition, the Special Olympics became a
public service organization that advocated research, rights and
better care for its constituents.
Shriver's son Timothy became the organisation's chairman.
Her other children are Maria, a former TV journalist who married
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; Bobby, a lawyer and
philanthropist; Mark, a former Maryland state legislator now in
charity work; and Anthony, who also founded a group to help the
mentally handicapped.
Word of Shriver's death spread quickly through Hyannis, where
locals have seen the Kennedys' come and go from their summer homes
for decades, often in the wake of tragedy.
"The women are all very strong and it gives a lot of other women
strength by watching them," Neco Rogers, whose son is a patient at
the hospital where Shriver died, said in the parking lot of
hospital.
Shriver was a debutante who was presented at the Court of St James
while her father Joseph Kennedy was US ambassador to Britain.
Early in her professional life, she worked for the State
Department and then with female prisoners in West Virginia.
Shriver campaigned with her husband when he was the vice
presidential candidate with George McGovern in 1972 and when he
made a failed bid for the Democratic nomination for president in
1976.
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