Saturday, August 15, 2009

Truly, Eunice Shriver is an Irish-American Modern Saint

Eunice Kennedy Shriver

Eunice Kennedy Shriver

July 10, 1921 – August 11, 2009

RIP

Eunice Kennedy Shriver (July 10, 1921 – August 11, 2009) was a member of the Kennedy family and founded the Special Olympics in the 1960s as a national organization. Her husband, Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr., was the Democratic vice-presidential candidate in the 1972 U.S. presidential election. Shriver actively campaigned for her elder brother, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, during his successful 1960 U.S. presidential election. In 1968, she helped Ann McGlone Burke nationalize the Special Olympics movement. Her daughter, Maria Shriver, is married to actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger.
-- wiki

Eunice Kennedy Shriver - wiki

POE NOTE: Edgar Allan Poe's Irish-American family did not come as a result of the "Potato Famine" in Ireland. Poe's ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War. In fact, Poe used to regularly wear his Grandfather's Revolutionary War overcoat. During the cold Fordham nights when Virginia suffered greatly, Poe warmed her with his Grandfather's overcoat and the cozy presence of their cat.

Despite this grand American heredity, Poe's parents suffered some of the indignities of racial prejudice against the Irish that were "customary" at the time. But I think they suffered more because they were actors, than because they were Irish. Still, "No Irish Need Apply" was common in the period. Edgar was not only Irish, but raised a Virginia WASP, and, although born in Boston, soulfully a Southerner. So, even though this was pre-war, going north to make your fortune as a writer was an uphill climb at best. Poe was the best and he had a tough time of it.

Poe Forward's New Dead Girls 2009

The Original Dead Girl: Mary Rogers/Marie Roget

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