The Missing Kennedy Quotes

“Uncle Nick was very sick—so sick—and he was very sad. So he chose to end his life with a gun.” Once the trauma of the event passed, I made sure my son understood our family history and what options were available for those struggling with depression. Silence and mental illness are not a very effective combination.”
― Elizabeth Koelher-Pentacoff, The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women

“She understood that becoming a nun was a lifetime commitment. Testing her daughter’s resolve was wise. The Koehler family together, 1923 First Homes As an adult, I visited Rosie’s first home at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, to get a sense of her early life and that of her famous family. The compact Victorian residence stands three stories tall on a small lot in the Boston suburb. It was easy to picture the young Kennedy children playing in the back yard. Rose Kennedy wrote in Times to Remember, her 1974 autobiography: “It was a nice old wooden-frame house with clapboard siding; seven rooms, plus two small ones in the converted attic, all on a small lot with a few bushes and trees . . . about twenty-five minutes from the center of the city by trolley.” 5 The family home on Beals Street is now the John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site, run by the National Park Service. From the deep browns and reds of the rugs on the hardwood floors to the homey couch and chairs, the home felt warm and comfortable to me. I suppressed a desire to kick off my sandals and flop on the sofa. The Kennedys’ house on Beals Street, Rosie’s first home But my perspective as a child would have triggered a different impression. I would have whispered to my mother, “They’re rich!” (I’ve since discovered that money isn’t the only measure of wealth. There’s wealth in memories, too.) A lovely grand piano occupies one corner of the Kennedys’ old living room. It was a wedding gift to Rose Kennedy from her uncles, and she delighted in playing her favorite song, “Sweet Adeline,” on it. Although her children took piano lessons, Mrs. Kennedy lamented that her own passion never ignited a similar spark in any of her daughters. She did often ask Rosemary to perform, however. I see an image of Rosemary declaring she couldn’t, her hands stretching awkwardly across the keys. But her mother encouraged Rosie to practice, confident she’d”
― Elizabeth Koelher-Pentacoff, The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women

“After Joe Kennedy’s stroke in December 1961, Rose Kennedy and the rest of the family discovered Rosemary’s whereabouts and the strict rules Joe had set in place. Mrs. Kennedy was shaken by what she learned about her husband’s edicts. Although she grieved for her wheelchair-bound husband, she was shocked by his beliefs. Rosie’s safety had been an issue, of course—Rosemary was part of the rich and famous Kennedy family. But she was convinced that Rosemary deserved a more fulfilling life.”
― Elizabeth Koelher-Pentacoff, The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women

“What about other doctors at the time? Didn’t they become suspicious? Even today, we have an unwritten professional code where doctors don’t speak out against other physicians.”
― Elizabeth Koelher-Pentacoff, The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women

“So when the lobotomy was embraced by some members of the medical profession in the late 1930s, it was because doctors were under extreme pressure to provide some relief to patients and their families.”
― Elizabeth Koelher-Pentacoff, The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women

“Silence and mental illness are not a very effective combination.”
― Elizabeth Koelher-Pentacoff, The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women