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Her condition was kept a secret outside of the family, though many people in the surrounding area knew of the ‘Kennedy girl’ at St. Coletta. In 1958, a private house was built for Rose Marie adjacent to the school’s Alverno Dormitories. In 1961, her presence at St. Coletta became public after the election of her brother, John F. Kennedy, as President of the United States. She lived in her house at St. Coletta until her death in 2005.
Rose Marie Kennedy’s life story had a profound indirect influence on the field of mental retardation and the social perception of mental disabilities in modern America. This influence can be seen in growing public awareness and empathy after her existence at St. Coletta became public, the Kennedy family’s financial contributions to St. Coletta and other institutions, John F. Kennedy’s presidential commission on the subject, Eunice Shriver’s development of the Special Olympics, Robert Kennedy’s exposure of poor institutional treatment, and Ted Kennedy’s sponsorship of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
National And State Register Of Historic Places Listings
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