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:	9781610881753
Publisher:	Bancroft Press
Publication date:	10/06/2016
Pages:	200
Sales rank:	327,363
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff was born and raised in rural Wisconsin, but left the Midwest for college in California and has returned only for family visits. She has written seven books for children and two for adults, including The ABCs of Writing for Children, a Writer's Digest Book Club Selection. She's also written hundreds of articles for magazines and newspapers such as Columbia, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Parents Magazine. She's married and lives with her husband in northern California.

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