Rosemary Kennedy
Rose Marie "Rosemary" Kennedy (September 13, 1918 – January 7, 2005) was the eldest daughter born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. She was a sister of President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert F. and Ted Kennedy.
For her mother, see Rose Kennedy.
Rosemary Kennedy
In her early young adult years, Rosemary Kennedy experienced seizures and violent mood swings. In response to these issues, her father arranged a prefrontal lobotomy on her in 1941 when she was 23 years of age; the procedure left her permanently incapacitated and rendered her unable to speak intelligibly.
Rosemary Kennedy spent most of the rest of her life being cared for at St. Coletta, an institution in Jefferson, Wisconsin. The truth about her situation and whereabouts was kept secret for decades. While she was initially isolated from her siblings and extended family following her lobotomy, Rosemary did go on to visit them during her later life.
Later life[edit]
Following her father's death in 1969, the Kennedys gradually involved Rosemary in family life again.[5] She was occasionally taken to visit relatives[32] in Florida and Washington, D.C. and to her childhood home on Cape Cod. By that time, Rosemary had learned to walk again, but did so with a limp. She never regained the ability to speak clearly and her arm was palsied.[17] Her condition is sometimes credited as the inspiration for Eunice Kennedy Shriver to later found the Special Olympics,[17] although Shriver told The New York Times in 1995 that Kennedy was just one of the disabled people she would have over to her house to swim, and that the games should not focus on any single individual.[36]
Kennedy died from natural causes[37] on January 7, 2005, aged 86,[38] at the Fort Atkinson Memorial Hospital in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin,[39] with her siblings (sisters Jean, Eunice, and Patricia and brother Ted) by her side.[38] She was buried beside her parents in Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts.[40][41]