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From True Compass by Edward M. Kennedy:
“My eldest sister, Rosemary, was twenty-three in 1941. Luminously pretty and round-faced, with a widow’s peak, dark brows, and a great smile that dimpled her cheeks, Rosemary was the one sibling with whom all the others were unfailingly gentle. Her affliction, diagnosed as mental retardation, left her struggling to comprehend things as quickly or as clearly as other people. She was a sweet and loving human being.
Rosemary enriched the humanity of all of us. Our sister Eunice seemed always to be near her, helping her through simple childhood games such as dodgeball, inviting her along and giving her assignments in sailing races. As she grew into adolescence, Rosemary knew she could count on Jack or Joe to escort her to dances at the Yacht Club at the Cape, or to the Stork Club in New York. I looked out for her too, when I could, although I was fourteen years younger–she was my godmother, after all. Dad wrote affectionate letters to her from abroad, and Mother actually altered her own handwriting from the swirling ‘fine Spencerian hand’ on which she’d prided herself, to a simpler style that imitated typographic print, so that Rosemary would have less trouble following it.
But in the fall of that year, our father, concerned that Rosemary’s condition would pose insurmountable dangers to her as an adult woman in the world, listened to doctors who assured him that a new form of neurosurgery would greatly benefit her and improve her quality of life. The doctors were wrong, the surgery further injured Rosie, and my parents were devastated. I, of course, knew and understood nothing of what had happened. Rosemary spent her remaining sixty-three years mostly in comfortable supervision at her home in a Catholic community in Wisconsin. Over the years, through her regular visits to Eunice’s home or her summer days on Cape Cod or wintertime in Florida or Thanksgiving at Jean’s, Rosemary remained a loving and inspirational presence in our family, not just for her siblings, but for the next generations as well.” (pp. 25-6)
Sweet Perdition 
*cries*
It’s interesting how Ted wrote that the other Kennedys cared about her, before and after the lobotomy.
He must have only been a boy of 9 at the time. How would it have affected him? And his godmother, too.
Hi, Adelaide,
Yes, very interesting. I’m most struck by how Ted’s account contrasts so strongly with how other chroniclers of the family have written about Rosemary. (For the record, I’ve read Robert Kennedy: A Life by Evan Thomas and Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy.)
Authors of those books say as little about Rosemary as possible, and say that she had a “failed lobotomy.” Thomas goes so far as to say that Kathleen was Robert’s “eldest” sister. (The birth order is: Joe, Jr., Jack, Rosemary and then Kathleen).
And these biographies are fairly recent–Thomas’s is the older, from 2000. I just figured they were trying to protect the family, and did not expect Ted’s candor at all.
The first chronicler of the family that really impacted on me was a biography of Rosemary in 1993, which claimed she was dyslexic, not mentally ill.
I would think this was supported in a letter. All the words are spelt correctly. The letter was written about camp and she was meant to be a Junior Counsellor there, but she was thrown out for lack of life skills. The letter was written to the mother and daughter in her early 20s. (a year or two before the lobotomy).
Well, Ted is the last Kennedy of his generation. He has nothing to lose now from telling the truth, and the children and grandchildren (as well as the general public) have plenty to gain.
Now that I think about it, she could have had non-verbal learning disability, or she was taught really well how to read and write and her capacity to use language was virtually unimpaired.
http://terrymarotta.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/eunice-and-the-other-sister/
And she was obviously a very emotional and caring person. That’s another quality of the letter we see.
Here is something to read:
Few Knew About Kennedy’s Visits To Jefferson
By Michael George
Story Created: Aug 26, 2009
Story Updated: Aug 27, 2009
Audio: Andrea Speth of St. Coletta’s on 620WTMJ’s “Wisconsin’s Morning News”
JEFFERSON – Few members of the public knew about it at the time, but for decades, Senator Ted Kennedy and his family members would come to Jefferson, Wisconsin regularly. They were visiting his sister Rosemary, who had been a resident at St. Coletta of Wisconsin for close to 60 years.
Rosemary Kennedy was 23 when a lobotomy left her with severe developmental disabilities. Her family placed her in the care of St. Coletta, a Catholic organization providing a home and services for people with disabilities.
“I think there’s a conception, or misconception, I should say, that they weren’t very involved in her life, and that’s just completely wrong. They were very close siblings and she was an integral component of their life,” said Andrea Speth, spokeswoman for St. Coletta.
Ted Kennedy and his family visited Jefferson since Rosemary came to St. Coletta in the late 1940s. But few people outside of Jefferson knew about the trips to Wisconsin.
“They did what they did on the national level to promote the rights of people with disabilities, but this was their private story. We were always conscious to respect that privacy. The time they spent with their sister was really sacred, and they would come and go very quietly,” Speth said.
Rosemary passed away in 2005. With Ted Kennedy’s death on Wednesday, the family’s loss is being felt at St. Coletta. The staff got to see a side of him that few ever saw.
“He’ll be remembered for his sense of humor and for his graciousness and his charm, as well as his true love for his sister,” Speth said.
Senator Kennedy’s relationship with his sister and his visits to St. Coletta were an inspiration in his lifetime of fighting for the rights of those with disabilities.
The Kennedy family was instrumental in creating the Special Olympics and Best Buddies programs.