Eunice Kennedy Shriver Dies, Full Family Statement

Eunice Kennedy Shriver has died at 88 years of age in a Cape Cod hospital. She had just become ill earlier this month.

Shriver helped found the Special Olympics back in 1968. She was also the younger sister of President John F. Kennedy, and an older sister to Senator Ted Kennedy.

Eunice Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1921. She was one of the nine children of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Eunice was raised in Massachusetts, Florida and London, when her father served as U.S. ambassador to Great Britain.

In 1953, Eunice Kennedy married R. Sargent Shriver Jr., who then went on to become the first director of the Peace Corps, as well as an ambassador to France and a vice presidential candidate.

The Kennedy family has just issued the following statement:

It’s hard for us to believe: the amazing Eunice Kennedy Shriver went home to God this morning at 2 a.m.

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. For each of us, she often seemed to stop time itself – to run another Special Olympics games, to visit us in our homes, to attend to her own mother, her sisters and brothers, and to sail, tell stories, and laugh and serve her friends. How did she do it all?

Inspired by her love of God, her devotion to her family, and her relentless belief in the dignity and worth of every human life, she worked without ceasing – searching, pushing, demanding, hoping for change. She was a living prayer, a living advocate, a living center of power. She set out to change the world and to change us, and she did that and more. She founded the movement that became Special Olympics, the largest movement for acceptance and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities in the history of the world. Her work transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the globe, and they in turn are her living legacy.

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. At this time of loss, we feel overwhelmed by the gifts of prayer and support poured out to us from so many who loved her. We are together in our belief that she is now in heaven, rejoicing with her family, enjoying the fruits of her faith, and still urging us onward to the challenges ahead. Her love will inspire us to faith and service always.

She was forever devoted to the Blessed Mother. May she be welcomed now by Mary to the joy and love of life everlasting, in the certain truth that her love and spirit will live forever.

-The family of Eunice Kennedy Shriver