The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women

by Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff

Overview

Rosemary Kennedy, younger sister of President John F. Kennedy, was lobotomized in 1941 at age 23. In 1959, she was put out of public view at a remote facility in rural Wisconsin, where, for more than twenty years, she remained unvisited by family and non-family alike, until 1962.

Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff (Liz) and her parents were likely the first non-Kennedy family members to visit Rosemary following her lobotomy. Liz was niece to Rosemary’s caretaker, Sister Paulus, a Catholic nun at St. Colleta, and she visited Rosemary on a regular basis for the next thirty-four years. Through their friendship, Liz discovered the person many had forgotten or never known.

In 2015, ten years after Rosemary’s death, Liz came forward with a fascinating book about the hidden daughter of America’s royal Kennedy family. “The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women” is truly unique. It is an eyewitness account of Rosemary’s post-lobotomy years, the first published by a non-family member, and it’s augmented by nearly 100 never-before-seen pictures of Rosemary after she was lobotomized.

Liz can shed considerable light on so many questions, the four biggest being:

Why did no one visit Rosemary for more than two decades?

What quality of life did Rosemary lead after her lobotomy?

What should have been the correct diagnosis of Rosemary’s pre-lobotomy condition?

And in what ways did immense good come from Rosemary’s tragic life?

This touching story of the intersection of two families will leave you with a unique portrait of the missing, but not forgotten, Kennedy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610881746
Publisher:	Bancroft Press
Publication date:	10/01/2015
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

The author of nine books, including a Writer’s Digest Selection for The ABCs of Writing for Children, Liz has now written an adult memoir, The Missing Kennedy (Bancroft Press), which will be out in 2015.

A former Byline Magazine "Writing for Children" columnist, Liz wrote frequent humor pieces for the San Francisco Examiner as well as hundreds of articles and essays in newspapers and magazines such as Parents Magazine, Writer’s Digest, and Parenting.

With degrees in Liberal Studies and Theater Arts/Children’s Theater and two teaching credentials, she’s directed plays and taught elementary, middle school students, and teachers. A speaker for international and state conferences, she presents assemblies and workshops for schools and libraries.

Born in rural Wisconsin, Liz moved to California for all her college and post-graduate education, and has lived most of her adult life in the San Francisco area. She’s married, and has one grown child.

Visit her blog for writing advice, ideas, and anecdotes http://lizbooks.com/blog/, contact her at [e-mail], or visit her at her website, www.lizbooks.com.

Table of Contents

Rosemary's Childhood 1

My Aunt Stella 11

First Homes 23

England 37

Rosemary and Stella in Their Twenties 45

Stella Becomes Sister Paulus 57

Rosemary's Surgery 63

Aunt Zora 79

Craig House 89

Uncle Nick 93

Rosie at Saint Coletta 101

Faith 123

Tragedy 125

My Misdiagnosis 133

Eunice 143

Rosie Gets Lost 149

Sex Ed and Silence 153

The Koehler Brand of Claustrophobic Catholicism 159

Rosie's Three Families 163

Standing Out 183

The Special Olympics 201

Epilogue 213

Events and Memories 217

Appendices 231

Bibliography 251

Photo Credits 253

About the Author 259

Editorial Reviews

10/01/2015
Koehler-Pentacoff (Jackson and Bud's Bumpy Ride) offers a personal perspective of the life of Rosemary Kennedy (1918–2005), the intellectually disabled sister of President John F. Kennedy. Provided is a succinct overview of Rosemary's difficult childhood and the effects of an experimental medical procedure she received as a young adult. However, the narrative centers on the treatment she received at a Catholic nursing facility from Sister Paulus Koehler, the author's aunt, who cared for Rosemary during much of her adult life. Using her aunt's private notes, Koehler-Pentacoff relays the dignified and specialized therapy Rosemary was afforded. Also recounted is how, in the early 1960s, after years of virtually no family contact, the Kennedys reconnected with Rosemary. The author chronicles the numerous trips Sister Paulus made with Rosemary to visit her extended family, ascribing how the clan's devotion to Rosemary in her later years was a catalyst in their activism for the disabled—including the creation of the Special Olympics. VERDICT While Kate Clifford Larson's Rosemary (reviewed below) is more in-depth on its subject's early years, this poignant look at the life of a lesser-known yet remarkable Kennedy, with its dozens of never-before-published photos, is sure to resonate with enthusiasts of this influential family.—Mary Jennings, Camano Island Lib., WA

Library Journal

2015-06-04
Historical facts and family stories about the hidden life of Rosemary Kennedy (1918-2005). Using research, family stories, and her own interactions with her subject, Koehler-Pentacoff (The ABCs of Writing for Children, 2003, etc.) examines the life of the third child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy. Unlike her two older brothers, Rosie was a bit slow to develop. She was diagnosed as mentally disabled at the age of 7, but her parents rejected the idea of placing her in an institution and enlisted the entire family in helping raise her. With extra kindness, love, and help, they believed she could function in the world. But as Rosie grew older and more beautiful, she also became more rambunctious, sneaking out at night to meet men and have sex and throwing terrible tantrums when she was forced to stop. "Because of their high profile in politics and society," the author writes, "the Kennedys couldn't risk the shame of sexual disease or an out-of-wedlock pregnancy." In 1941, "unbeknownst to his wife and family," Joseph made the decision to have his daughter undergo a prefrontal lobotomy, which was supposed to "relieve her of the rages she suffered but also render her happy and content." Unfortunately, the surgery left Rosie far worse than she had been. Joseph told the family she was being placed in a home run by nuns, and she was sent to live in Wisconsin, where her personal caretaker was the author's aunt, Sister Paulus, who became a lifelong friend. With average prose, Koehler-Pentacoff flip-flops from one family to another, making the narrative a bit difficult to follow, but she does reveal an untold chapter in the Kennedy saga. She also delves into the different families' histories of mental illness and shows how knowledge of Rosie's disability led to the founding of the Special Olympics by Eunice Kennedy. A middling memoir that provides a few interesting glimpses into one member of the Kennedy clan who was almost lost to her family.

Kirkus Reviews