Profile: Once her brother John F. Kennedy's right-hand woman, at 82, the cheerful, straight-talking and canny Eunice Kennedy Shriver is still working tirelessly on behalf of people with a disability writes Kathryn Holmquist.
Although she may look as fragile as an antique ivory china doll, Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver is, underneath it all, unbreakable. When she smiles and speaks, she seems 50 years younger than her 82 years. A hands-on worker for Special Olympics and disabilities issues in general, Kennedy Shriver is at her desk every morning at 9 a.m. and works steadily until 4.30 p.m.
She personally lobbies politicians on Capitol Hill and, in Dublin for the Special Olympics, attends nearly every event, meeting competitors and supporting coaches. She also heads the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr Foundation, which funds Catholic organisations and institutions for the mentally disabled.
She is the only living woman whose portrait appears on a US coin, the 1995 commemorative Special Olympics Silver Dollar.
Her relationship with Ireland is probably best described as a romance. Kennedy Shriver makes sure her children and grandchildren gather around to sing My Wild Irish Rose, and she plays tapes of the Irish music in her car as she travels.
Loyal friends say she is a joy to be with, likes the occasional glass of wine and a cigarette and relishes the company of younger people, especially her grandchildren. She doesn't waste time with frivolities, however - she is a straight talker. An example of her straight-talking was her diplomatic chastisement of the Government this week in The Irish Times for not getting its act together on disabilities legislation. She is strident in her belief that a "lack of resources" is not a legitimate reason to deny people with disabilities vital services which she considers to be a fundamental right.
She is a consummate campaigner who will seize any opportunity to further her cause. At the opening ceremony for the Special Olympics World Games this week she ambitiously demanded that the next Games in 2005 reach out to a million athletes. When she met a group of eight- and nine-year-olds at one of the venues, she told them: "You must invite students with special needs to your school for lunch once a month. Go to the principal and ask for the telephone number of a special class, and call them up".
During the past week she has been working 12-hour days. She is so committed to her cause that she seems to get her energy from the atmosphere around her as she meets young people all over Dublin.
But the fundamental energy probably comes from her close relationship with her brother, the late John F. Kennedy, assassinated in his prime when he was president of the US. Her sense of public service runs deep.
Kennedy Shriver is generally regarded as just as smart as her brother, and just as politically canny. She was his right-hand woman in many ways. At her insistence, one of the first pieces of legislation JFK signed gave rights to people with disabilities.
Their sister Rosemary was hidden away by their father, Joe, because he feared her learning disability - known then as mental retardation - could embarrass the family. Rosemary was institutionalised in 1941, and her condition was worsened by a lobotomy, which - some writers have reported - was designed to dampen her sexuality.
Back in those days, this was a family that had to be immune from embarrassment. The success ethic was strong. Somehow, Kennedy Shriver and her siblings helped to transform this into something else: a strong sense of public service for the betterment of society.
Only rarely is she as fragile as she looks, but she would be considerably more fragile without the devoted buttressing of her adoring husband of 50 years, Sargent Shriver, who was a vice-presidential candidate in 1971. He has been described as worshipping at his wife's feet.
The couple have five children - four boys and a girl. One son, Mark Shriver, is a delegate in the Maryland House of Representatives. The daughter is the one we know best, and the woman chosen to carry the flame of the Special Olympics into the future: Maria Shriver, a TV journalist and writer.
Maria Shriver's own attitude says a lot about her mother. A hard worker, she too makes time for her children. One moment, she is sitting in the stands at Croke Park, chewing on Maynard's fruit gums and chatting away to her cousin, Caroline Kennedy. The next, Maria is dashing down the steps with her children to do a lap of honour around Croke Park for an international TV audience. Then it's back to the stands, where she eschews her assigned seat to be with family members.
Maria is married to actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, in many ways, is a fitting son-in-law for Eunice. Not only does he make her laugh, but he intellectually challenges her - not least because he is a Republican.
The fact that her self-made son-in-law will run for Governor of California as soon as circumstances allow doesn't faze her. In fact, she is positively supportive of him despite his political allegiances.
While it may sound corny, this is a family where they still have big Sunday get-togethers and shout and row just like anybody else. Visitors find it slightly unsettling to see the silver-framed pictures of JFK, Bobby Kennedy and other family members - people regarded as public property who are still cherished as intimate family members.
Eunice survived surgery three years ago, when the removal of a benign tumour put her in a critical condition. Two years ago, she broke her leg in a car accident. A daily Mass-goer, the founder of the Special Olympics was the fifth of nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Four of Kennedy Shriver's eight siblings died tragically: Joe died when his bomber exploded over the English channel in 1944. Their sister, Kathleen, died in a plane crash in 1948. JFK was assassinated in 1963 and Robert assassinated in 1968.
Her sole surviving brother, Ted, had a long career as a Democratic Senator, but not without tragedy. In 1969, he drove a car off a narrow wooden bridge at Chappaquiddick, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. His only passenger, a young campaigner, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. Ted swam ashore and failed to report the accident for several hours.
JFK, after his death, has been exposed as a serial philanderer, who had sex with a string of admirers in the White House.
In many ways, it is the women of the family that have carried on the ethos of commitment to create a better society. Jean Kennedy Smith, former ambassador to Ireland, has a fine reputation, although her son, William Kennedy Smith, suffered as the defendant through one of the world's first televised trials in 1991. He was acquitted of rape.
Yet despite all this, the three surviving sisters - Patricia, Jean and Eunice - have reared a generation of idealistic children, nieces and nephews. Kennedy Shriver is particularly close to Caroline Kennedy, who is the only surviving member of her own immediate family after the death of both her parents, John and Jackie, and her brother, JFK junior. Caroline is intensely private but works tirelessly to support her aunt's Special Olympics efforts.
Despite her family tragedies, Kennedy Shriver remains cheerful. She doesn't live in denial, but seems to have made a decision to relish life in spite of its cruelty.
Despite the showbiz, feel-good factor of the Special Olympics, Kennedy Shriver is well aware that photo-opportunities can only achieve so much, which is why she is at her desk for nearly eight hours, most days of the year.
Kennedy Shriver is so well-loved by so many, that it is impossible to find a bad word said about her. Yet, as one friend said: "She's not a saint - and she wouldn't want to be thought of that way".