Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter (24 page)

Rosemary received individual therapy and participated in social functions and occasional meals with staff and residents at Saint Coletta. Speech therapy and improving her motor skills remained priorities. In 1958, Sister Anastasia, who appears to have been the contact for the family during Rosemary’s early years at Saint Coletta, assured Ford that special therapists and doctors were coming to work with Rosemary.
Joe Kennedy made clear that he would cover these costs, no matter what they were. “All you have to do is to do it and send me the bill,” he told Sister Anastasia.
The trust fund Joe had set up for Rosemary many years before, as he had done for all his children, paid Rosemary’s bills at the school. But, even without it, Joe would have made sure
she was well cared for. A car used by her caregivers to take her on short trips into town, furs, and beautiful clothes guaranteed that she was still a Kennedy girl. Consistent and significant yearly donations were made to the school, as well.

R
OSE CLAIMED TO
her niece Ann Gargan that she was kept in the dark about the lobotomy for twenty years, well into Rosemary’s life at Saint Coletta. Gargan recalled that Rose “had to piece the story together chapter by chapter.” Heartbroken, angry, and disillusioned, Rose begged her friends and family advisers to tell her what had happened. Why, she asked, hadn’t she been told?
Luella Hennessey Donovan’s response was echoed by them all: “Because I did not know.”

Rose’s claims ring false, however, given the historical record. Rose later claimed, in her 1974 memoir, that she and Joe consulted with “eminent medical specialists” who advised them that there was no choice, but that Rosemary “should undergo a certain form of neurosurgery.”
Joe had discussed the surgery with her, and, it seems, Rose asked Kick to further research its viability. Joe may not have asked for Rose’s final permission, but clearly she was not in the dark once the surgery had taken place. Though little correspondence exists that explicitly defines what Rose learned and when about what happened to Rosemary, it is not possible that she remained as uninformed as she alleged.

Rosemary now lived wholly apart from her family identity. Unable to speak clearly, and deeply intellectually impaired, she no longer needed to compete with her siblings and had become, as one nun described her, less “goal oriented.” Her “whole life is wrapped up in doing things she likes, like taking trips into town.”
Still a relatively tall woman, at five feet eight inches, Rosemary presented an imposing figure. For some time she had tended to
carry more weight, and now, with physical limitations, she was heavier than she had been. In spite of her crippled limbs, however, she was strong and healthy.

Over time, Rosemary would indeed consider Saint Coletta her permanent home, and would make friends among the patients. One woman, Gloria, had become intellectually impaired when she suffered severe brain damage in a car accident on the night of her high school senior prom. A talented pianist, Gloria suffered a form of amnesia that prevented her from remembering what she had done a few minutes before. She could no longer learn new music, but she could beautifully play pieces she knew from before her accident. The two developed a friendship. Gloria, younger by five years, believed it was simply because Rosemary loved music and liked to hear her play, just as she had liked it when Rose played the piano for the children when they were young.

In one letter to Sister Anastasia, Joe expressed deep gratitude for the kindness and loving care the nuns and staff were providing Rosemary. In a remarkable moment of honesty, Joe told Sister Anastasia that Saint Coletta had offered “the solution to Rosemary’s problem . . . a major factor in the ability of all the Kennedys to go about their life’s work and to try and do it as well as they can.”

Baby Rosemary and her brothers Joe Jr. (left) and Jack, with their mother, Rose, early 1919.

Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

Eunice, Kathleen, and Rosemary in Brookline, 1925, with Rosemary displaying the family’s most exuberant smile.

Unless otherwise indicated, photographs copyright
©
John F. Kennedy Library Foundation

Jack, Rosemary, Kathleen, and Joe, with Eunice on his shoulder. Joe worked long hours and was away from home often, but he valued his time with his children. On the beach in Cohasset, circa 1924.

Joe Jr. and Jack were the leaders among the Kennedy children, and the girls looked up to them. Cohasset, 1924. Left to right: Eunice, Jack, Joe Jr., Rosemary, and Kathleen.

Riding a bicycle, rowing a boat, playing tennis, and doing other athletic activities proved challenging for Rosemary. On her tricycle, 1924.

Rosemary’s godfather, Eddie Moore, teaches her how to steer a sled, circa 1925. Over the years, the Moores’ bond with Rosemary remained deep as they took on more responsibilities related to her education and care.

On the beach in Hyannis Port, 1930. Reading and writing remained a struggle for Rosemary, but she attained a fourth-grade level of proficiency.

Joe and Rose with eight of their nine children at Hyannis Port, 1931. The Kennedy parents encouraged close bonds among the children, which became a hallmark of the family dynamic in the years to come. Left to right: Bobby, Jack, Eunice, Jean, Pat, Kathleen, Joe Jr., and Rosemary.

Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

In her teens, Rosemary’s smile belied difficult times as she slipped further and further behind her peers and siblings.

Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum