Eunice Kennedy Shriver -- one of my heroes -- dies at 88

I have long been captivated by Eunice Kennedy Shriver. I see her as one of our heroes, a daughter of privilege, who used that privilege to help other people -- especially those who had mental retardation, and their families.

Millions of people have learned empathy and caring by working for Special Olympics. I know I have. Volunteering and fund-raising for Special Olympics has always been important to me

She will be missed, but her legacy will live on.

By Brian Marquard
Globe Staff

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who planted the seeds for the Special Olympics when she launched Camp Shriver on the lawn of her Maryland home, and then with force of will and the clout of her family name spread her vision of lifting the developmentally disabled "into the sunlight of useful living," died this morning at Cape Cod Hospital.

Mrs. Shriver was 88.

When Mrs. Shriver founded the Special Olympics in 1968, holding its inaugural Summer Games at Chicago’s Soldier Field, the 1,000 athletes outnumbered spectators more than 10 to 1. By its 40th anniversary last year, 3 million athletes in 181 countries competed in Special Olympics contests and uncounted millions more gathered to watch, cheer, and encourage.

The middle child of nine in a clan embraced as America’s royalty, Mrs. Shriver counted among her siblings US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat whose storied political tenure is being curtailed by illness, and the slain symbols of ’60s hope, President John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. Her husband, Sargent Shriver, was the first director of the Peace Corps, a US ambassador to France, and a vice presidential candidate.

In the competitive household of her youth, she established herself as the most intellectually gifted of the sisters in a family where the patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., decided that his sons were the ones bound for politics.

Within the constraints of her era, gender, and social strata, she was the most ambitious, too, becoming an international leader more than a half century ago in the burgeoning movement to wrest mental retardation from the shadows of hushed conversations.

A younger sister of Rosemary Kennedy, who was developmentally disabled and institutionalized most of her life, Mrs. Shriver dedicated decades to ensuring that other families would not endure the fate of her own, watching a loved one whisked behind closed doors. In an attempt to alleviate Rosemary’s intellectual disabilities, doctors performed a lobotomy that instead left her in need of constant care.

The rest of the Boston Globe story is here.

For folks in New York State

Please pass this along to anyone you think would benefit from it:

New York families who receive public assistance or food stamps can access a one-time Back-To-School Supplement of $200 per school-aged child (ages 3 through 17) starting today.  This is designed to help them purchase school supplies.

The contact would be their Social Services office.

Monday evening: The first post-Pennsic Liam-style post

1. Wow. That was amazing. I am still trying to catch up/recover. It was a terrific war, and I will regale you with stories soon.

2. So I knew that the Special Olympics Polar Plunge registration was going to open soon. (I am on the local committee. Who wudda thunk?) and prodded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver's death, I went to check.

Lo and behold, I am registrant No. 1, and Agni Dentati is Team. No. 1. We are looking for folks to join our team. There will be cookies (and beer). We'll get crash space if you want to come up and plunge. (In the past, if you raised $250, you got a free hotel room).

The Plunge is Saturday, Nov. 21, and the donation link is here. I will post more about it somewhere down the road.

3. Speaking of Mrs. Shriver. I posted the link to the obituary earlier. Here's an excellent piece from Richard Sandomir of The Times. 

An excerpt if I may:

Loretta Claiborne was born partially blind and mildly retarded. She loved running but did not compete on her high school team because she was told, “You’re a retard.” Her first encounter with Shriver, in 1972, came after a race. in which another runner ran into her lane and clipped her. A coach brought her to Shriver, who was sitting in the grass. “I was really upset, and crying,” she said. “This older woman shook my hand and said I did a good job.”

Thinking about Shriver’s gesture and words, Claiborne, a long-time Special Olympian, still sounds amazed.

“How could this lady care about me?” she recalled saying to herself. “No one cares about retards. Why would she care about me when society doesn’t care? It’s God’s blessing. This is a woman of God.”

Claiborne, now in her 50’s, is a marathoner and the first Special Olympics athlete on its board of directors.

“Physically, she will pass,” Claiborne said last Friday after Shriver’s family reported she was critically ill. “But mentally and spiritually, she’s here and her kids are replicas of her.” Indeed, her four sons, including Timothy, the chairman of the Special Olympics, work in charities; her daughter, Maria is the first lady of California and is an advocate foe Alzheimer’s sufferers, among them her father, R. Sargent.

4. I discovered that LiveJournal does not go past skip=980, so there are a couple of blank days in my LJ memory. If you want me to read a post you made in early August, please let me know. (I just found out there's a fix. Don't view communities).

5. As far as the American League East goes, you will remember it was a Yankee -- Yogi Berra -- who was said to have said  "It ain't over 'til it's over."

6. I just found the card reader tonight, so there will be Pennsic pictures on my flickr account in the next day or two.

7. One of the roads I usually take to work is closed for repairs through the end of the week, so NPR is not as helpful as usual in telling me if I am running on time for work. Usually I know I need ot be past a certain point before Alan Chartok starts ponrificating.

Oh, baby. This could turn the season around!

Nothing like a good fight to get your mustard up!

Thanks to WEEI and firerosearien.

A brief brawl took place in the bottom of the second inning of the Tigers-Red Sox game at Fenway Park. Miguel Cabrera was hit by a stray Junichi Tazawa fastball in the top of the first; Cabrera (who had also been hit during Monday's game by a Brad Penny pitch) eventually left the game in the top of the second. Tigers starter Rick Porcello, in a likely act of retaliation, first narrowly missed the ribs of Victor Martinez in the bottom of the first, then drilled Kevin Youkilis with a fastball in the first pitch of the second.
 
Youkilis (who was hit on Monday by an Edwin Jackson pitch) sprinted to the mound, with Porcello trying to backpedal to keep his distance. Youkilis fired his helmet at the Tigers' pitcher, and then went for a takedown. He and Porcello were briefly on the ground as benches and bullpens emptied. Order was restored quickly, with both Youkilis and Porcello ejected.
 
Mike Lowell has entered the game as a pinch-runner for Youkilis, while Manchester, NH, native and BC alum Chris Lambert has come on in relief of Porcello with one on and one out in the second.