Eunice and the 'Other Sister'

I could look at pictures of Eunice all day, hero that she was for trying to do for others what she couldn’t do at home. She was just 19 when sister Rosemary was lobotomized according to their father's wishes. He didn’t even tell Rose he had ordered it done 'til the surgery was over and they realized to their horror that she would never again stand erect, never again write the kind of letter that appears below here. My mother and aunt owned and ran a girls’ camp called Fernwood and in the spring of 1940, Rose Kennedy asked to meet them in New York to talk about her 22-year-old ‘working’ there as a Junior Counselor. Mom used to say she should have known the minute Mrs. Kennedy arrived without her daughter that the girl was not as 'able' as Rose was leading them to believe and sure enough, her care proved to be too much for everyone and her time at Camp Fernwood ended early, something the vacationing Mrs. Kennedy was most unhappy about.Rosemary was unhappy too as  you can tell reading this letter she sent to my mom and aunt. See the wistfulness in it, the brave good cheer. Now imagine that within a few short months all this liveliness would be erased. Unlucky for Rose and Joe’s handsome oldest girl! Lucky for us to have had her little sister to raise our consciousness around all issues of the differently abled!