The following is an excerpt from The Washington Post article, “This house started the Special Olympics. It’s finally being recognized”, that explores the legacy of Timberlawn, the Maryland home where Eunice Kennedy Shriver launched Camp Shriver in 1962—planting the seeds for what would become Special Olympics.
“The two-story Georgian Revival structure was part of an estate known as Timberlawn and the home of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister to President John F. Kennedy.
In 1962, Shriver launched Camp Shriver there, a summer day camp for children who were turned away from other activities. It served as the precursor to the international Special Olympics that the Kennedy family scion founded in 1968.”
“My mother believed in justice and in the late 50s and early 60s, saw little justice in the way people with intellectual differences were treated,” Timothy Shriver, Eunice’s son and the Special Olympics chairman, said in a statement. “She saw they were excluded, ignored, neglected and knew they had tremendous talents and gifts to offer.”
